§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on (a) the current numerical strength of the rent officer service; and whether he anticipates a decrease in manpower in the near future, (b) the cost of maintaining the rent office service and (c) the average length of time the rent officer service takes to determine a fair rent.
§ Mr. StanleyThere are currently 475 rent officers and 860 support staff in post in England. I have no plans to decrease the overall manpower of the rent officer service below its present level. The cost of the service in the year 1978–79 was £9.35 million. No statistical information is available on the average length68W of time taken to deal with each case, but a typical period would be eight weeks.