HC Deb 22 January 1979 vol 961 cc44-5W
Mr. Arthur Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people live in tied accommodation.

Mr. Armstrong

Information is not available in the precise form requested, but from preliminary results of the national dwelling and housing survey it is estimated that at the end of 1977 there were about 500,000 households in England whose accommodation went with the present job of a member of the house-hold.

Mr. Arthur Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many people who live in tied accommodation are retired;

(2) how many people who live in tied accommodation are expected to retire in the next five years.

Mr. Armstrong

Information is not available in the precise form requested, but we have arranged for special analyses to be made on the preliminary results from the national dwelling and housing survey and will write to my hon. Friend as soon as these are available.

Mr. Arthur Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people in each of the following three categories are living in accommodation covered by the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 (a) those who live in tied accommodation, (b) those who live in tied accommodation and are retired and (c) those who live in tied accommodation and are expected to retire within the next five years.

Mr. Armstrong

Information is not available in the form requested. A survey carried out in 1974 by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations produced the following figures:

Agricultural tied cottages: England and Wales
Occupied by full-time and part-time workers and family members 79,600
Occupied by pensioners 19,800

No age breakdown of agricultural workers in tied accommodation is available but 8 per cent. of all agricultural workers questioned in the survey were 60 or over.

A further survey carried out in 1976 by the Tavistock Institute produced the following figures for tied cottages in private forestry:

Forestry tied cottages: England and Wales
Occupied by full-time forestry workers 2,300
Occupied by retired forestry workers 1,100

No similar surveys have been carried out since the Act came into force.

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