Mr. J. E. B. Hillasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government (1) what estimate he has made, in his preparation of legislation on the subject of agricultural tied cottages, of the number of such cottages in current occupation by persons employed in agriculture;
(2) what estimate he has made in his preparation of legislation on the subject of agricultural tied cottages, of the number of possession orders relating to such cottages made annually by the High Court, county courts and by magistrates' courts, respectively, in the last three years;
(3) what estimate he has made, in his preparation of legislation on the subject of agricultural tied cottages, of the number of possession orders which resulted in actual evictions being made from such cottages;
(4) what estimate he has made, in his preparation of legislation on the subject of agricultural tied cottages, of the number of evictions from such cottages made without arty court order in each of the last three years.
196W
§ Mr. CrossmanIt is estimated that there are about 120,000 agricultural tied cottages in England and Wales. As regards the other information asked for, I regret that I cannot make reliable estimates. But I should add that the Government have promised, as a matter of principle, to provide greater security for occupiers of agricultural tied cottages; what is right as a matter of principle is not determined by statistics.