§ Mr. RAFFETYasked the Minister of Health whether the 30,000 houses of not more than £26 rateable value completed in the provinces in the year ended 30th September, 1923, were of the accommodation and area required for houses for the erection of which public assistance has been given; if so, has he made inquiries as to the conditions which have enabled so many such houses to be erected without public assistance; what these conditions are, and if they are likely to extend in the future so that public assistance will no longer be required?
§ Mr. WHEATLEYI am unable to state how many of the houses referred to would fall within the limits of size laid down by the Housing Act, 1923. In some districts houses within the limits of size can readily be erected for sale without assistance and would not, therefore, be eligible for subsidy under the Housing Act. There is, however, no doubt that houses of the size specified by the Housing Act cannot generally be provided either to be sold or let without assistance, and where satisfactory evidence of this is available authority has been given to local authorities to grant subsidies under the Act.