§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many non-statutory neighbourhood councils there are in England which are known to his Department; and if he will list them.
§ Mr. John SilkinA survey conducted for the Department by the Association for Neighbourhood Councils during 1974 produced responses from 224 local oganisations of which 137 were multipurpose organisations appearing to have the representative and community service réles characteristic of neighbourhood councils. I am sending the hon. Member a list of these bodies. It will be appreciated that there is no ready way of compiling complete up-to-date information about such bodies, and it is not known what proportion of the total in England 267W is represented by the list of those identified in the survey.
§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the Government's intention to introduce legislation enabling the creation of statutory neighbourhood councils in England.
§ Mr. John SilkinI would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Mr. Price) on 4th February 1976.—[Vol. 904, c.651.]