§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many houses have been repossessed following mortgage default in each of the last five years on (a) local authority mortgages and (b) building society mortgages; and what investigations his Department has made into the causes of mortgage arrears.
§ Mr. ArmstrongInformation about number of repossessions is not available. My Department, however, will discuss with local authority representatives the possibility of obtaining relevant statistics as regards local authority mortgages. The Department has not carried out any general investigation into the causes of mortgage arrears, but, following the Finer Report on One Parent Families, advice was given to local authorities in Circular 78/77 on appropriate action where foreclosure is envisaged.