House Building (Hansard, 26 April 1983)

§ Baroness Lane-Fox
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, provisional estimates show that 48,000 dwellings were started in Great Britain in the three months from December 1982 to February 1983. House building starts in the 12 months March 1982 to February 1983 were 201,000 which is a 28 per cent. increase on the previous 12 months.

§ Baroness Lane-Fox
My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that very satisfactory reply, may I ask whether he can say if the latest figures for February continue this encouraging trend?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, my figures included February, but my understanding is that the powers-that-be expect a 10 per cent. to 15 per cent. increase over and above the figures I have given in the next 12 months.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, accepting that any increase in house building is to be desired, will the noble Lord give the figures for the year before that which he quoted, which I believe were the lowest on record for quite a number of years?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, in 1980 the figures were 130,000 houses; in 1981, 131,000 houses; in 1982, 166,000 houses—hardly the lowest on record.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, I was asking the noble Lord whether he will compare those figures with the figures for the previous year, because the general comment on house building figures is that they were the lowest for some 10 or 12 years.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, my figures do not go back as far as 10 or 12 years ago. What I can say is that the trend under the last Government in respect of new house building starts was down between 1975 and 1979, and that from 1979 to 1983, as I have shown, the trend has been up. The noble Lord, Lord Underhill, may draw his own conclusions from that statement.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord the Minister whether the trend in respect of new house building for the disabled is equally good? Also, can he find a way of speeding up social services departments, who sometimes hold up the adaption of ordinary houses which have to be converted to accommodate disabled people?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, so far as housing for the disabled is concerned, we have to consider two points; not only house building but also house conversion. It is not, therefore, a matter of providing new, specially designed accommodation. More and more local authorities have been making provision for the needs of the disabled by adaptations to their own housing stock. Authorities are also increasingly making improvement grants available to disabled people wishing to adapt their houses. I am glad to be able to tell your Lordships that nearly five times as many adaptations and improvements were carried out last year as were made in 1978.
With regard to the problem of getting grants, where the local social services organisations have to approve particular types of adaptations, I realise that this is causing a problem and the Government intend to look at this.

§ Lord Northfield
My Lords, can the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, say whether we are now making the much needed progress in improving the proportion of houses in the starter home range, at the bottom of the market? That is where we really need more homes, particularly with the ending of public sector house building. Is it not the case that at the bottom end, the position is getting better now thanks partly to the equity sharing system which many of us strongly support?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I am afraid that I do not have the breakdown which the noble Lord requests. With permission, I shall write to the noble Lord on this aspect, but I take the point he has made.

§ Baroness Lane-Fox
My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister say whether the volume of housing starts varies greatly in different areas of the country?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
Yes, my Lords; housing starts are bound to vary greatly in different areas of the country. This is because different areas of the country have different needs—one has only to look at the rural as compared with the metropolitan areas—and also because there is a political reason in particular places. I am not trying to cast aspersions in any particular direction, but I regret that that is a fact.

Lord Wallace of Coslany
My Lords, will the noble Lord tell the House how many of these new houses are 806 attributable to local authority development, and how many are for sale or for rent?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I do not have the annual figures but I do have the percentages. The public sector starts were up 29 per cent. and the private sector starts were up 41 per cent.