§ Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) in 273W view of his reply to the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland on 14th November, 1960, that of the 5,000 houses of the Forestry Commission the 1,100 without electricity all except the most remote would be supplied within five years, how many of the 515 houses still without a supply of electricity are considered too remote for a supply; how many will be supplied by the end of 1965, and what has happened to the 673 houses not otherwise accounted for;
(2) if he will list the places where the Forestry Commission have houses considered too remote for a supply of electricity;
(3) how many of the 261 Forestry Commission houses without modern sanitation and bathrooms will be improved by the end of 1965.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsOf the 515 houses still without a supply of electricity, the Forestry Commission hopes that about 170 will be supplied by the end of 1965. The Commission will continue with its programme of electrification where a supply is or becomes available and in cases where an installation is an economic proposition, but about 180 of the remaining houses are at the moment considered to be too remote for a supply. Since these are nearly all isolated houses, the list is a long one and I will send it to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
The Commission hopes that, of the 261 houses without modern sanitation and bathrooms, about 70 will be improved by the end of 1965.
Apart from the fact that my right hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member on 14th November gave rounded figures, not exact ones, the reduction in the number of houses occupied by Forestry Commission staff is mainly due to sales of surplus property, lettings to people not employed by the Commission, amalgamations and conversions, and the writing off or demolition of substandard houses.