§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) further to the oral answer given by the Minister for Housing and Construction on 17 December 1980, Official Report, column 413, if he will give a breakdown of the empty council houses in each of the seven boroughs referred to, showing the reasons for the houses being empty, given in their respective housing investment programme returns;
475W(2) if he will make a statement setting out the number of council homes being kept empty prior to sale by the Greater London Council and each London borough shown in the housing investment programme returns.
§ Mr. StanleyI refer the hon. Member to the housing investment programme returns of the authorities concerned, copies of which are in the Library. These provide some information on the reasons for dwellings being empty including awaiting sale. A HIP return is not submitted by the GLC.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) further to the oral answer given by the Minister for Housing and Construction on 17 December 1980, Official Report, column 413, whether he, or any Minister of his Department or any of his staff, issued a press statement, or gave a press briefing, on the figures given for the seven boroughs referred to; and, if so, what was the cost;
(2) further to the oral answer given by the Minister for Housing and Construction on 17 December 1980, Official Report, column 413, on how many previous occasions he or any Minister in his Department has given (a) figures on empty homes in the House, (b) in public speeches or (c) press statements.
§ Mr. StanleyThere was no press statement or press briefing following the answer I gave in the House on 17 December. Other Ministers and I have made a number of references inside and outside the House to figures on empty homes in both the private and public sectors. It is not possible to tabulate these comprehensively except at disproportionate cost. However, I refer the hon. Member to DOE press notices No. 306 on the publication of the vacant property survey and No. 531 regarding a statement I made at Skelmersdale.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) further to the oral answer given by the Minister for Housing and Construction on 17 December 1980, Official Report, column 413, if he will give a breakdown of the council-owned homes in each London housing authority empty for more than one year, expressed as a percentage of the total housing stock of each authority;
(11) further to the oral answer given by the Minister for Housing on 17 December 1980, Official Report, column 413, if he will give the equivalent figure of council-owned homes left empty for more than a year for each housing authority in London, including the Greater London Council.
§ Mr. StanleyThe information requested by the hon. Member as recorded in local authorities' HIP returns is attached.
476W
Authority Dwellings empty more than one year* Percentage of total stock† Camden 1080 3.7 Greenwich 23 0.1 Hackney 1267 4.5 Hammersmith 645 4.0 Islington 1401 4.4 Kensington 121 1.3 Lambeth 1189 3.7 Lewisham 757 2.5 Southwark 1196 3.2 Tower Hamlets 307 1.7 Wandsworth 273 0.7
Westminster 329 1.4 Barking 27 0.1 Barnet 85 0.4 Bexley 0 0.0 Brent 274 1.3 Bromley 87 0.4 Croydon 30 0.1 Ealing 84 0.4 Enfield 42 0.2 Haringey 548 2.5 Harrow 4 0.0 Havering 33 0.2 Hillingdon 269 1.1 Hounslow 200 1.0 Kingston 24 0.3 Merton 8 0.1 Newham 172 0.5 Redbridge 8 0.1 Richmond 21 0.2 Sutton 105 0.8 Waltham Forest 353 1.8 * Dwellings vacant between April 1979 and April 1980 and still vacant at the time of submission of HIP forms (July 1980, approximately). † As at 1 April 1980. • Comparable figures for the GLC, which does not submit an HIP 1 return are not available.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to the Minister of Housing and Construction's answer of 18 December, Official Report, c. 441 and 442, whether it is his intention to supplement the housing investment programme allocation should the sale of council houses fall below the 120,000 figure he has assumed for 1981–82.
§ Mr. StanleyNo. Receipts from sales of council houses are only one element in the various types of eligible housing and non-housing capital receipts that authorities can use to add to their housing investment expenditure.