HC Deb 26 January 1983 vol 35 cc893-4
17. Mr. Gwilym Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with the current level of council house building starts; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Stanley

It is for each local authority to determine the balance between new build and improvement and how much of its single block allocation and its capital receipts it uses for housing. However, local authority starts up to the end of November last year were 32 per cent. up on the same period in 1981 and total public sector starts were 39 per cent. up.

Mr. Roberts

Does the Minister recall that he and his colleagues frequently told me, when Labour was in control of Cannock Chase district council, that one of the factors that affected the house building programme was the council's failure to sell council houses? Now that the Tories and Liberals are in joint control of the council and are selling council houses like hot cakes, will the Minister explain why the council housing programme has virtually collapsed? Will he come clean with the House and accept that the Tory Government's financial programmes have virtually destroyed all hope for hundreds of thousands of people on council house waiting lists?

Mr. Stanley

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. There was a substantial increase in public sector house building starts last year.

Mr. Dorrell

Does my hon. Friend accept that the increase in public sector housing starts is a welcome development? Does he further accept that local authorities should now be seeking to concentrate those housing starts on particular sectors of the housing market rather than overall in the housing market, and particularly on single flats for old and young people? Is he aware that a further increase in activity in that area could make a significant contribution to increasing the level of activity in the economy as a whole?

Mr. Stanley

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. It is now policy in most local authorities to concentrate on meeting specialist needs. I draw the attention of the House to the fact that we have recently published an interesting and helpful book on housing initiatives for single people.

Mr. Winnick

Bearing in mind that the number of new council dwellings remains the same as in the 1920s, why does not the Minister go round the country and see for himself the number of people who are waiting, desperately anxious to be rehoused by the local authority, and who, in the absence of being rehoused, are living in inadequate conditions? Why do not the Minister and his colleagues drop the vendetta against council housing?

Mr. Stanley

The Government are taking a rounded approach to housing in looking at both the public and private sectors. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to look at the public sector, I remind him that since the Government have been in office the public sector stock has increased by over 300,000 dwellings. Public sector improvements have been carried out totalling over 400,000. There is now the highest rate of private sector home improvements since 1974 and private house building, notwithstanding the recession, has increased by 20 per cent. for the second year running.

Mr. Steen

What is the point of building more and more council houses when so many of those already built are standing empty? Should not the Minister spend his money on putting those that are empty into fit order rather than continuing to spend more public money, often building on green field sites?

Mr. Stanley

My hon. Friend is right, and that is the conclusion drawn by a great many local authorities. To endorse what my hon. Friend has said, when local authorities have nearly 300,000 dwellings that are difficult to let and nearly 20,000 dwellings that have been vacant for more than a year in the public sector, it makes entirely good sense for local authorities to concentrate on better utilisation of existing stock.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

Does the Minister recall his Government's decision in 1979 to cut spending on housing by half? Is he now advocating more spending because he recognises the folly of that decision, or because he thinks that an election is near?

Mr. Stanley

The hon. Lady will recall that the public sector house building programme declined in every year under the previous Government since 1975. With regard to the immediate availability of finance, local authorities entered this financial year with £800 million capital receipts unspent, and half way through the financial year they had spent only 35 per cent. of the allocations, plus receipts. The Government made substantial provision in terms of allocations plus cash for local authority purposes.