HC Deb 26 November 1975 vol 901 cc173-4W
Mr. Stephen Ross

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many municipally-owned units of accommodation were empty, at the most recent date for which figures are available, in each of the Inner London boroughs, and in each of the metropolitan districts in Merseyside, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Strathclyde.

Mr. Armstrong

Provisional estimates from the Department's latest relets survey are that at 31st December 1974 about 1 per cent. of council dwellings in Greater London and less than 1 per cent. in Merseyside, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire were vacant and available for letting. Dwellings undergoing modernisation, repair, or conversion were about 1½ per cent. of the stock in Merseyside, about 1 per cent. in Greater London, and less than 1 per cent. in the other three counties. Information is collected on the basis that returns of individual authorities are aggregated and not published separately. My right hon. Friend does not collect information about vacant council dwellings in Scotland.