§ Mrs. Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will introduce legislation to assist persons on local authority housing lists in Scotland by ensuring that local authorities make the list open to inspection at reasonable times and indicate to a person on the list his position on it and the number ahead of him and the reasons why a particular applicant has a particular position.
§ Mr. RossI am sending the hon. Lady a copy of a recent circular in which I recommended that selection from the waiting list should be made according to allocation rules, based on the "group-plus-points" system, which should be drawn up and published by each local authority. The circular also explained that the letting of council houses has always been regarded as a matter for the local authorities to whom they belong, and that I have no proposals for legislation to alter this principle.