§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will institute an inquiry into the ways in which house and flat building in Europe has avoided damp, with a view to using similar methods of construction and design in Great Britain; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ArmstrongThe Department obtains information from other European countries about building practice and problems. The evidence available on the incidence of damp and the degree of success in avoiding it is not such as to suggest that the experience of those countries would be relevant to many problems particular to this country; for example, differences in climatic conditions and 305W patterns of living can produce substantially different effects. I therefore do not think that a specific inquiry on this subject is required.
My hon. Friend will be aware that, although there can be various reasons for damp, present evidence indicates that the main cause in the case of recently built dwellings, and particularly of those built before the increase in thermal insulation standards in 1975, is condensation due to insufficient heat and ventilation. The trouble is often worse in the case of highly exposed dwellings and is sometimes compounded by high fuel costs which make some people—especially those with low incomes—turn down or switch off their heating. This is a problem of great concern to the Government and I would draw my hon. Friend's attention to what I said on the subject—with particular reference to the difficulties of those people who occupy electrically heated dwellings—in the Adjournment debate on 20th April 1978.—[Vol. 948, c. 853–64.]