§ Mr. Ian Harveyasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government the nature of the replies received by him from local authorities in response to the circular on the subject of the claims of serving members of Her Majesty's forces to be considered for inclusion on their housing lists.
§ Mr. SandysIn a circular dated 8th March, I recommended to housing authorities that any application for a council house from a regular ex-Serviceman, who had found employment in or near the district or had family connections with it (provided the application is made within one year of his leaving the Forces) should be considered exclusively on the106W basis of his housing need and without regard to the length of his residence in the locality. I asked authorities to let me know their practice in this regard and invited any who saw difficulty in treating ex-Service men in this way, to send me particulars of the problem in their area.
Out of 1,467 authorities in England and Wales, to whom the circular was sent, 868 have so far replied. Of these, 612 assured me that they were already applying these principles; 154 stated that, whilst they had not done so hitherto, they would in future bring their practice into conformity with my recommendations; five authorities are reconsidering their practice and 63 gave replies which were partially satisfactory. The number of negative replies was 34. Reminders are being sent to local authorities who have not yet answered.