§ 54. Mr. Sorensenasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will consider acquiring and exercising compulsory powers to enable him to be furnished with information from local authorities in respect of fluctuations in rental charges and availability of accommodation as between one year and another.
§ Mr. H. BrookeI am not clear whether the hon. Member is referring to all rented accommodation or only to council houses. The Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants has for some time past collected and published annually the rents of council houses in some areas, and arrangements have now been made with the Institute for this to cover all local authorities. The first full return, entitled Housing Statistics, 1957–58, was published last November.
As regards availability of accommodation, whether the hon. Member is referring to all rented accommodation or only to council houses this fluctuates so quickly that it would not be possible to produce any reliable statistics.