§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give an estimate of the numbers of public sector and private sector houses now lying vacant in Scotland; and how many of these houses in the public sector are in large burghs or cities.
§ Mr. William RossInquiries made early last year showed that some 5,500 council houses in Scotland had then been vacant for more than 8 weeks—that is, 0.7 per cent. of the total stock of council houses. Over 4,000 of these were in cities or large burghs. Inquiries are currently being made of the authorities which last year reported the most serious problems, in order to establish the current situation. I have no information about empty houses in the private sector.