HC Deb 14 July 1970 vol 803 cc1339-40
6. Mr. Murton

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what are his plans for encouraging the private building of flats to rent.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Mr. Paul Channon)

As my hon. Friend knows, my right hon. Friend is very anxious to reverse the present decline in this and other kinds of house building. He is studying the financial and other implications of this problem, and I would ask my hon. Friend to await the outcome of this study.

Mr. Murton

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that Answer. Will he bear in mind that official encouragement is the obvious answer to this problem, and that if houses were built to rent they could make a big contribution to the continuing housing shortage?

Mr. Channon

I agree with my hon. Friend.

Mr. Molloy

May I first congratulate both Ministers on putting in an appearance today? May I ask the hon. Gentleman whether, as Conservative- controlled councils seem to have put a brake on council house building, which seems a most callous thing to do, and seems to many people to have been done merely as a political gesture to hit the then Labour Government, he will reverse that trend, knowing that many people are still homeless because of that callous manoeuvre?

Mr. Channon

I do not accept the implications of that question, nor do I think it relevant to the Question on the Order Paper.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Will my hon. Friend and his right hon. Friend bear in mind particularly in this connection the recommendation of the Milner Holland Committee that the allowance of depreciation for tax purposes in these cases would be a great encouragement to the provision of accommodation to rent?

Mr. Channon

That will be a matter for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I shall bear my right hon. Friend's views in mind and keep in touch with the Chancellor in reviewing this issue.

Mr. Ronald Brown

May I ask the Minister whether a check will be made on Hackney Borough Council which has cut its programme from 2,000 to 600 homes a year? There is evidence that councils are cutting back their building programmes in areas of great housing shortage.

Mr. Channon

I would not without notice wish to comment on what takes place in Hackney. That is an entirely different matter, and perhaps the hon. Gentleman will put down a Question about it if he wishes to do so.