§ 43. Mrs. Millie Millerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will issue a circular to all local authorities encouraging them not to sell council houses, in view of the present housing shortage.
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§ Mr. KaufmanIn April this year we issued Circular 70/74 which made it clear that the Government opposed the indiscriminate sale of council dwellings. It is certainly desirable for local authorities to build for owner-occupation at the lower end of the market in addition to building to let, but their first duty is to ensure an adequate supply of dwellings for letting at reasonable rents and I hope that they will act accordingly.
§ 50. Mrs. Ann Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities in England are selling council houses at the present time.
§ Mr. KaufmanThe latest available figures show that 58 local authorities in England and Wales sold 299 council houses in the quarter ending September 1974, compared with 381 local authorities—old-style—which sold 6,779 houses in the corresponding quarter of 1973.