§ 12. Mr. WinnickTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the level of rent being charged in the private and public residential sector.
§ Sir George YoungIn 1993–94, in England, the average local authority rent was £33.70 per week, the average housing association rent for new assured lettings was £44.05 per week and the average rent for other private sector assured tenancies was £73 per week.
§ Mr. WinnickRachman would have been delighted to have been living now. He lived too soon. What possible justification can there be for council rents increasing at double the rate of inflation in the past 15 years and for council rents increasing by 6.5 per cent. on average this year? In such circumstances, is not it understandable that council tenants and private tenants working in the public and private sectors want justified wage increases, which is the reason for the current industrial dispute? Those people want a pay increase to compensate for the increase in rents.
§ Sir George YoungThe hon. Gentleman mouths the outdated prejudices of the 1960s. Many Labour-controlled local authorities have positive partnerships with the private rented sector and welcome the role that they can play in meeting housing need. The Government's policy on local authority rents is clear. They should reflect the value of properties. Our policy has been progressively to increase rents to those levels year by year.
§ Mr. Nigel EvansWill my right hon. Friend confirm that, thanks to the right to buy, 1.5 million people have turned their rents into mortgages, a move opposed by Opposition Members? Will he also confirm that, thanks to the lowest mortgage rates in more than 20 years, those people will be paying far less in mortgage payments than they did in rent to local authorities?
§ Sir George YoungThe figure mentioned by my hon. Friend is the figure for local authority tenants who are entitled to exercise their right under the rent-to-mortgage scheme. I hope that they will follow my hon. Friend's advice and exercise the right that the Government gave them in the teeth of opposition from Opposition Members.
§ Mr. BattleDoes the Minister recognise that the Government's calculated programme of promoting high rents across all sectors has caused the housing benefit system to break under the strain, and has led to the overcharging of council tenants and the pricing of people out of their homes? Will he confirm that he and his colleagues in the Department of Social Security oppose the Chief Secretary to the Treasury's cost-cutting review of housing benefit? Does not the Minister agree that the policy of high unemployment, low incomes and high rents will not work?
§ Sir George YoungThe Government's policy is to move away from bricks and mortar subsidy towards personal subsidies. There are good reasons for that policy, which we have followed for a number of years. My right hon. Friend has made it clear that a fundamental review of income support is under way. The conclusions will be announced after they have been reached.