HC Deb 23 June 1976 vol 913 cc1575-6
3. Peter Bottomley

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will publish the results of the survey he has commissioned into the effects of the Rent Act 1974 in London.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Ernest Armstrong)

The results should be available by the end of the year. The form and timing of their publication will be decided then.

Mr. Bottomley

Do the Government accept that there is urgent need for action? Will the hon. Gentleman do slightly better than saying that we have to wait for at least another six months or nine months after the two years since the Rent Act came into force?

Mr. Armstrong

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have instituted a fuller review of the Rent Act. However, there is no need for urgent action. The view that the Act has caused the drying up of rented accommodation is not borne out by the evidence that we have received.

Mr. Baker

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that in central London the effect of the Act is sharply to reduce the number of furnished lettings available? Does he further agree that the Government should be encouraging the schemes put forward by some of us for short-term teases, and the proposal of the Westminster City Council for short-term council leases? The casual and complacent attitude of the Government, which suggests that there is no problem, is not acceptable.

Mr. Armstrong

I did not say that there was not a problem, but I remind the House of the great reduction that has taken place in homelessness as a result of evictions, and in the number of people facing eviction from their dwellings. That has to be balanced against—[Interruption.] The evidence from voluntary bodies is that there has been a great reduction in stress and a great reduction in the numbers concerned. We are giving every attention to this problem.