§ Mr. Litherlandasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list those local authorities which submitted technical appraisals in reply to his Department's letter of 5 October 1983 about Bison wall frame houses and flats, indicating which authorities have been invited to consent to the publication of their appraisal and which authorities have given this consent;
(2) if he will publish the information submitted by local authorities in reply to his Department's letter of 5 October 1983 about Bison wall frame houses and flats.
§ Mr. GowThe Department's letter of 5 October did not invite the authorities to which it was sent to consent to the publication of any technical appraisals submitted in response. It said that the Department was ready to assist in the exchange of information and invited authorities to confirm that they were willing that the Department should pass any technical information provided in response to the letter to other owners who sought assistance from the Department. The publication of this information is a matter for each authority which supplied it: the authorities receiving the letter of 5 October were listed in the annex to the letter, a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Litherlandasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list the bodies which have commissioned reports from the Building Research Establishment on Bison wall frame dwellings, together with the dates on which his Department received copies of these reports;
(2) if he will publish any of those reports by the Building Research Establishment into Bison wall frame dwellings which are held by his Department;
(3) if he will list the bodies which have commissioned reports from the Building Research Establishment indicating which bodies have been invited to consent to the release of its report to the National Association of Bison Tenants, the dates of such invitations, and the replies received to such invitations together with the dates of those replies.
§ Mr. GowThe Department's building research establishment — or its predecessor, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research's building research station — made reports on aspects of particular Bison wall frame developments for the following bodies on the following dates: 801W
Date Concrete Limited July 1964 Brighton borough council June 1974 Reading borough council August 1974 Elmbridge borough council May 1978 New Towns Directorate, Department of the Environment August 1978 Delyn borough council January 1979 We are consulting Bison Concrete Limited — the successor of Concrete Limited — and the Brighton, Reading, Elmbridge, and Delyn borough councils about the release of copies of these reports to third parties, including the National Association of Bison Tenants. The Department wrote to Bison Concrete Limited on 21 June; the company's reply, received on 18 July, seeks comments and further information on a number of aspects of the proposal to release copies of the reports. The Department wrote to Brighton, Reading and Elmbridge on 17 July; and the Welsh Office wrote to Delyn on 20 July. Replies have yet to be received.
§ Mr. Litherlandasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all the local authorities which have replied to his Department's letter of 5 October 1983 about Bison wall frame houses and flats, together with the dates on which each reply was received:
§ Mr. GowThe local authorities and other bodies which have replied to the letter of 5 October 1983 are as follows, with the dates on which the replies were sent:
Local authority Date on which reply sent Barking and Dagenham 12 December 1983 Barnet 18 November 1983 Birmingham 10 November 1983 Bradford 18 October 1983 Brent 3 November 1983 Brighton 9 November 1983 Dartford 23 January 1984 Ealing 28 November 1983 Eastbourne 22 November 1983 Elmbridge 30 November 1983 GLC 8 December 1983 Hartlepool 26 October 1983 Hillingdon 18 November 1983 Hounslow 12 October 1983 Islington 14 November 1983 Knowsley 16 November 1983 Leicester 18 November 1983 Lichfield 8 November 1983 Liverpool 21 October 1983 Manchester 4 April 1984 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 30 January 1984 Nottingham 19 January 1984 Oldham 6 January 1984 Portsmouth 10 November 1983 Preston 26 October 1983 Reading 14 October 1983 Rotherham 21 November 1983 Rugby 8 November 1983 Salford 30 November 1983 Sandwell 9 November 1983 Scunthorpe 28 November 1983 Slough 4 November 1983 Solihull 19 December 1983 Sunderland 17 November 1983