§ 6. Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many new housing starts have been made in (a) the public sector and (b) the private sector for each year from 1979 to the latest date available; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Sir George Young)The provisional estimates for last year are 140,000 private and 28,000 public sector starts in England. The figures for 1979 are 121,000 and 69,000 respectively. Figures for the intervening years appear in table 2 of my Departments' press notice No. 135, issued on 7 March, which is available in the Library.
§ Mr. SkinnerDoes the Minister accept that yesterday, Budget day, was a great opportunity for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on behalf of the Government and especially of the Department of the Environment, to make an announcement that would have resulted in many more bungalows and houses being built in the public sector for at least 250,000 pensioners—some of them in three-bedroom houses—who would like the opportunity to live in decent accommodation for the last few years of their lives? 282 Is it not a scandal that when millions of bricks are being stocked, when at least 250,000 construction workers want to do some work and when there is much homelessness in our large cities, the Government refuse to do anything because they would sooner have a massive dole queue than allow Labour authorities to build houses?
It is like the pensioner—[Interruption.] I have not spoken for as long as a Minister did earlier. It is rather like what a retired miner said to me in Bolsover the other day. He said that the Government care only about looking after the dames of Dulwich so that they can have houses built for them at £500,000 a time while miners——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I have my eye on some of the hon. Gentleman's colleagues who wish to be called.
§ Mr. Skinnerrose——
§ Mr. SpeakerDoes the hon. Gentleman not care about them?
§ Mr. SkinnerThere are all these retired people——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I think that that is enough.
§ Sir George YoungThe hon. Gentleman approaches this issue with his customary neutrality. As a result of the Budget yesterday, mortgage rates have already been reduced by two major building societies. That will be of great help to those in housing need who hope to be private house owners and do not look exclusively to local authorities. The greatest reduction in public sector house building took place between 1976 and 1979. In cash terms, the Government are spending on public sector housing roughly what we spent when we came into office. That is a record which the previous Labour Government could not achieve.
§ Mr. HeddleDoes my hon. Friend agree that it is a scandal that the public sector is still sitting on a lot of vacant land that could be sold to the private sector and could have built upon it half-and-half houses for sale? Tenants on housing waiting lists would be only to prepared to buy such houses.
§ Sir George YoungI am happy to tell the House that the day before yesterday my hon. Friend served notice on a number of public sector bodies to dispose of land by auction within three months. It is a scandal that so much land in the public sector should not be used for housing and for creating jobs. We hope to issue further directions in the near future.
§ Mr. John FraserDoes the Minister accept that on the matter of rented housing the Labour party will never be neutral? Will he confirm that there has been a loss of 250,000 homes to rent in the public sector since his party came to power? The reduced construction figures show a loss of 250,000 public sector homes since 1979. Will the Minister tell the House the sum total of broken families, illness and disease, homelessness and unemployment and redundancy in the building industry as a result of the Government's abdication of public responsibility for housing?
§ Sir George YoungThe hon. Member continues to look solely at the public sector. The private sector accounts for three quarters of starts, and 1983 saw the highest number of starts in the private sector for 10 years. If one is to take a responsible approach to housing, one must look at both the public and private sectors. Houses 283 that have been sold are not now available for rent, but they are still homes meeting the needs of the people who live in them.