§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government approximately how many houses in England and Wales were vacant at a recent date; and, of these, approximately how many have been empty for more than three, six and 12 months.
§ Mr. MacCollRegular statistics of unoccupied dwellings are not kept but the sample census returns showed that at the end of April, 1966, 478,600 dwellings were unoccupied. In general the number of houses empty between changes of176W occupancy and while under repair is believed to have been somewhere in the region of 3 per cent. as against a vacancy rate of some 4 per cent. (excluding holiday dwellings) which is generally accepted as desirable in the interest of mobility. I regret that the information asked for in the last part of the question is not available.