§ Mr. Speedasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the total cost to date of the current housing condition survey; how many staff are involved; and when he expects to publish the results.
§ Mr. FreesonThe total cost of the English House Condition Survey is estimated at £250,000 and about four-fifths of this has been incurred to date. Staff resources deployed upon a survey of this nature vary during the course of the survey, but within my Department a team of five officers has been fully employed on the survey over a period of time. Four others have been temporarily employed at certain periods during the survey, and a further small number has been more indirectly involved in its preparation and execution.
The actual physical survey of dwellings was carried out by 45 surveyors seconded for a period of about six weeks from local authorities and the follow-up attitude survey of individual householders is being carried out by an independent 539W survey firm under contract to my department.
I hope to publish the first results of the survey by the middle of next year.