HC Deb 27 February 1980 vol 979 cc1356-7
27. Mr. Greenway

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the effect on local authority manpower of the abolition of Parker Morris standards and the housing cost yardstick.

29. Mr. Butcher

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what effect he expects the abolition of Parker Morris standards and the housing cost yardstick will have on local government manpower.

Mr. Stanley

It will be for each local authority to judge what savings it is able to make, but our proposals to reduce substantially the Department's detailed intervention in individual housing schemes should assist local authorities to make manpower savings.

Mr. Greenway

Does my hon. Friend consider that the abolition of Parker Morris standards and the housing cost yardstick will help to bring down housing costs in the public sector?

Mr. Stanley

It will materially help local authorities to tailor standards to what they see as appropriate for those on their waiting lists, and for those who want rented accommodation. In so far as it helps local authorities to make economies, it should have a beneficial effect on house prices.

Mr. Butcher

What effect does my hon. Friend consider the abolition of the housing cost yardstick for Parker Morris standards will have on the quality of new building in the public sector?

Mr. Stanley

It is right that local authorities, with the considerable reservoirs of experience which they have at both officer and member level, should make judgments as to what is the best value for money for their capital investment programme.

Mr. Allen McKay

Was the Parker Morris standard not introduced to stop councils from building future slums? What will the Minister do about that when the Parker Morris standards have been abolished?

Mr. Stanley

We are perfectly confident that local authorities, spending their allocations, will take care to ensure that they receive value for money.

A number of authorities, of both political persuasions, have approached the Government in recent months asking for the relaxation of Parker Morris standards in individual schemes. We have been treating those applications sympathetically.