HL Deb 16 December 1985 vol 469 cc531-2

2.49 p.m.

Baroness Vickers

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what monitoring of the performance of local authorities has been undertaken subsequent to the request made in paragraph 117 of Circular 21/84 and on how many occasions have chief environmental health officers notified chief housing officers of defects subsequent to tenants' complaints.

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, the Government do not monitor such matters unless they have reason to believe that councils are neglecting their responsibilities. We will review this matter, should evidence come to light.

Baroness Vickers

My Lords, may I thank the noble Lord for that reply? It is essential that action is taken, because far too few tenants know of their rights under the Act. Perhaps some information could be given to them—probably through advertisement in the local papers, and so on—to tell them their rights, since in many cases the houses are getting into a very bad state of repair.

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, in our Circular 21/84 dated 15th August last year, I was able to encourage my Department to insert paragraph 117, to which my noble friend has referred in her original Question. That asks councils to introduce and publish arrangements under such cases, and I have no reason to believe that they have not done just that.

Baroness David

My Lords, paragraph 117 of the circular to which the Minister has just referred admits that there is a lack of parity between the way that council tenants and private tenants are treated. Therefore would it not be better if the environmental health officers had the right, if council tenants made complaints to them, to take them to the housing committee which is held in public, so that tenants would know their grievances were really attended to and could not just be put aside on a shelf?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, of course in an ideal world that would not happen, because although I readily accept that environmental health officers are council employees and thus cannot serve a notice on their own council, both public and private tenants have common law rights.