§ 18. Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is satisfied with the progress being made with the sale of council houses in Scotland.
§ Mr. AncramYes. Since 1979 over 69,000 public sector tenants have bought their houses; binding contracts of sale have been concluded in a further 3,250 cases; and there are approximately another 5,500 applications at an earlier point in the pipeline. Authorities are also increasingly appreciating the need to process sales quickly. The average time taken to complete transactions has fallen to approximately nine months.