§ 3. Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)How many council houses have been built since May 1997. [152482]
§ The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott)Since 1997, 105,228 new social homes have been built. Of these, 1,343 were built by local authorities.
Over the same period, we have brought 1 million social homes up to decent standards, and over the next three years we shall be investing £2.8 billion to further improve council homes—three times what it was in 1997.
§ Bob RussellMr. Speaker, you will be aware that my question was about how many council houses have been built. That is a lamentably low figure, even by the Deputy Prime Minister's standards. Is he aware that hundreds of thousands of children are living in overcrowded accommodation, and that even the Thatcher Government managed to build 360,000 council houses in their first six years? Why cannot new Labour try to match what the Thatcher Government did?
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman will be aware that the priority that we set when we came in was to do something about the houses that had gone into massive disrepair through disinvestment to the tune of £19 billion. We have given priority to improving the housing conditions of people in local authority houses, and have improved almost a million. That is quite opposite to the right-to-buy policy that dominated in the previous Administration, and we have doubled the resources going into housing.
§ Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)It is good that the Government have increased investment in housing, but it is still only up to the 1992 level in real terms. In my constituency, only those applicants for council housing or housing association housing who are homeless or are clearance cases are receiving offers. Even those living in extremely overcrowded conditions, or with urgent medical needs, cannot get an offer. Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that unless there is a substantial increase in the number of affordable homes for rent—and council housing is the most efficient way of providing this—many areas are approaching a housing crisis not seen since the post-war era?
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterI agree with a great deal of what my hon. Friend says. That is why we gave priority to improving housing, particularly in her area, by providing the resources to improve the housing stock. Much of that help was associated with very difficult housing conditions. That was our priority. But I agree that we need to put more money into housing. We have done that. It is double the level that it was in 1997, and it will increase even further in the next round of public expenditure.
§ Mr. John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)Further to the hon. Lady's question, the Deputy Prime Minister will know that in 2002–03 the number of social houses built by registered social landlords and local authorities was 19,174, the lowest annual total for more than 10 years. The Government are building fewer houses in this sector than the previous Conservative Government did. Will the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that honestly and straightforwardly, and tell the House why?
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman will be aware that we are doing that primarily because his Government refused to put the money into improving housing conditions. Over £7 billion from selling houses was being held in accounts that the previous Government would not allow local authorities to use to improve their housing stock. Our first priority was to make sure that the money secured from selling houses was used to improve the housing stocks, and that was a proper priority. It was our choice, and I am delighted to defend it.
§ Mr. Robert N. Wareing (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab)Is it not about time we made our first social housing priority the building of council housing and repair of existing stock? Should we not also reverse the policy of transferring council houses from the ownership of democratically elected councils to that of unaccountable housing associations?
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterI recognise the difficulty caused by the £19 billion disinvestment that we inherited. We had to obtain extra resources as well as the public money that was being invested, so we offered the transfer facility. Some 790,000 homes have been transferred, producing £8 billion in additional private investment. I think that, in the circumstances, that was the right priority. As for democratic accountability, the residents had to vote for this, and they did, in large numbers.