§ Mr. George Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has now formulated his proposals for the first stage of the repeal of the Housing Finance Act 1972.
§ Mr. FreesonMy right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I are in consultation with the local authority associations on this matter. The consultation document outlining the proposals was placed in the Vote Office yesterday. It proposes that existing rent-fixing procedures should be discontinued, that local authorities should be given much wider freedom to fix the rents of their dwellings, and that housing subsidy arrangements should be recast. My right hon. and learned Friend and I will be bringing forward legislative proposals as soon as possible.