§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on progress made so far in respect of a warranty scheme for the repair of 302W homes covered by the Housing Defects Act; and if he will indicate the steps which have been taken to ensure that the warranty will be acceptable to the building societies.
§ Mr. GowOn 2 May the executive committee of the National House Building Council approved the arrangements for the scheme. Its subsidiary formed specifically for the purpose ("PRC Homes Limited") will invite designers and builders to submit systems of repair of precast reinforced concrete houses for approval. This approval will mean that local authorities, lending institutions and, most important, the owners can be satisfied that the system of repair has been examined carefully by technical experts, that the carrying out of the repair will be supervised closely by qualified engineers or surveyors and that the builders responsible for the work are reliable and reputable. In addition to all of these safeguards the scheme will provide insurance cover for 10 years against major structural defects arising from the failure of the repair. The Building Societies Association has participated in the setting up of the arrangements and I am confident that houses repaired under the scheme will prove acceptable to building societies generally.
I hope that the first approvals of repair schemes can be given this summer and that the first repairs to PRC houses under the scheme can be completed before the winter. My Department will be writing to the local authority associations and to individual local authorities, to explain how the arrangements under this scheme relate to the overall administration by local authorities, of assistance to owners under the Housing Defects Act 1984.
I record my thanks to the National House Building Council and to the Building Societies Association for their sustained help, without which this novel scheme would not have been introduced.