§ 6. Mr. SillarsTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and individual local authorities about the case for increasing investment in public sector housing.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Lord James Douglas-Hamilton)At a meeting with me on 22 September, the convention expressed concern about a possible shortfall in receipts from council house sales in some authorities in the current year. I have also received representations from a number of local authorities concerning the detail of their ongoing programmes, but they mostly appreciate that consideration of future investment programmes can best take place in the context of their housing plans and capital programmes which they are due to submit next month.
§ Mr. SillarsDoes the Minister acknowledge that whatever he may be doing this year, the past 10 years have been years of disinvestment in public sector housing in Scotland, and that a reasonable measure of the success or otherwise of that policy is whether it puts decent roofs over families? Does he agree that after 10 years of that policy, 29,000 families are homeless, an increase of 77 per cent. in the past five years; that 192,000 people are on the waiting lists; that we have had a loss of stock of 130,000 homes in the public sector; and that some of our best councils are being turned into slum landlords because of a lack of investment in the public sector? How does he justify the bitter fruit of that policy?
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonTotal gross public investment in Scottish housing has increased in real terms by 2 per cent. a year over the past 10 years. The hon. Gentleman supported the last Labour Government in office and during those five years there was a decrease of 8 per cent. a year in real terms, for which he bore part of the responsibility.
Total gross capital spending in public sector housing in Scotland this year is £968.4 million, as allocated in March. I strongly recommend the hon. Gentleman to make representations about circumstances that affect his constituents to his district council, so that they can go into the housing plan on 3 November and be properly considered. This year, £94.2 million was allocated for investment in council houses in Glasgow, with a further £140 million in covenant schemes. No less than £466 million has been spent on Glasgow through housing associations, of course funded by the Government.
§ Mr. Nigel GriffithsWill the Minister explain why he has not given local authorities separate and specific moneys to spend on dampness, when hundreds of thousands of Scots are living in homes riddled with damp?
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonCertainly. Special allocations in recent years undoubtedly helped to focus local authority attention on the need to tackle such problems urgently, but this year those allocations were subsumed into general allocations, along with an extra £29 million, to make it easier for local authorities to tackle problems in the way that they considered most appropriate, and to leave the discretion to the local authorities to concentrate on their most pressing priorities.
§ Mr. BaldryIs it not a constitutional convention in Scotland, as elsewhere in the country, that people should abide by the law passed by Parliament? How can those words possibly lie in the mouth of a representative of a party that has been exhorting people to break the law and not pay the community charge, thus denying local authorities much-needed funds to discharge their housing responsibilities?
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonIt is very important that local authorities should have the necessary funding from local taxation. I am very glad that the reminders being sent out are having an effect.
§ Mr. GalbraithDoes the Minister agree that so far the Government's response on dampness in housing has been totally ineffective? The Minister will by now have had the opportunity to read the report in the British Medical Journal of June this year which established in Scotland the relationship between damp housing and ill health. What is the Government's response to that report? When will the Government put in enough money to prevent damp housing and thus improve the health of the Scottish nation?
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe hon. Gentleman must appreciate that it is for local authorities to choose their top priorities. If dampness rather than homelessness or any other problem is the most pressing priority in his constituency, he should make absolutely certain that that is taken up by the local authority. Of course, I have read the report, which we discussed in the Scottish Grand Committee in the summer.