Surplus Housing Stock (Hansard, 8 December 1993)

§ 5. Mr. McKelvey
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will meet Scottish Homes to discuss disposal of surplus housing stocks.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Lord James Douglas-Hamilton)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no plans to meet Scottish Homes to discuss disposal of surplus housing stocks, but he has issued guidance to Scottish Homes on the matter. Proposals must have the agreement of tenants, after which they are subject to his approval.

§ Mr. McKelvey
The Minister will know, because I have told him, that there have been a series of meetings in my constituency, called by the landlord, to discuss with tenants the options of a new tenancy with a new landlord. The vast majority of tenants have said that they would very 301 much like Kilmarnock and Loudon district council to be their new landlord. If the tenants charter is to mean anything, and if there is to be any sign of a democratic move in that direction, should not the name of the Kilmarnock and Loudon district council appear on the ballot paper when people are given a free and democratic choice of a new landlord?

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
The current arrangements do not prevent a local authority from putting forward proposals to acquire Scottish Homes' stock. It is for Scottish Homes to decide whether special circumstances arise—including such matters as the number of properties involved and the location and the percentage of stock already owned by the local authority. Some 44 per cent. of the stock in Kilmarnock and Loudon is owned by the local authority. That is above the regional average and well above the national average. The objective of our policy is to provide diversity and choice. For practical operating reasons, Scottish Homes has decided that the ballot paper should contain two options: if the tenants vote against, that is the end of the matter; if they vote for, the matter will eventually come before the Secretary of State, who will have to be satisfied that all considerations had been properly thought through.

§ Mrs. Fyfe
Kilmarnock and Loudon district council will look at the Minister's reply with a great deal of interest. Does the Minister expect Scottish Homes' rents to rise next year from their current average of £32 a week? Is it not true that he has cut the housing support grant from £36 million to £26 million—a loss of £10 million—in an attempt to force up council house rents from their average of £26.51 per week to as much as £34.86 a week? Why should tenants pay more and more in times of falling interest rates when mortgage payers pay less and less?

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
In setting this year's rent increase, Scottish Homes' board considered a number of options and agreed on an increase of 9 per cent. to spend more on repairs, management and maintenance. I expect the average increase in local authority rents to be about 5 per cent. On the basis of current trends in rent charges, maintenance and management, I would say that it will not be above 5 per cent. The reduction in the housing support grant for next year reflects partly a reduced need for subsidy and partly our policy of reducing indiscriminate subsidies, such as housing support grant, so that public sector resources can be concentrated on capital investment. Some £700 million is being spent on housing benefit in Scotland, although not exclusively on council house tenants.

§ Sir David Steel
Is the Minister's experience as a constituency Member of Parliament the same as that of most of the rest of us? Housing problems represent the majority of problems that are raised at our surgeries. When the hon. Gentleman meets Scottish Homes, will he draw its attention to the Department's 1991 housing survey, which revealed that about 1.5 million homes were in need of repair and that the number of houses built for rent had plummeted over the past decade? Will he do a deal with Scottish Homes? Will he give it increased resources to do its job if, in turn, it will stop publishing glossy pamphlets, which expensively tell us how good it is?

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
Scottish Homes has a very good record in the right hon. Gentleman's area. It is 302 doing everything that it can to bring empty houses back into use, to expand the housing association movement and to build a number of new houses. It is important to mention the success stories—the before and after—and what can be achieved. The essence of the matter is that if the private sector becomes involved, public sector funds will go very much further.