§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now take steps to bring up to date the penalties provided in the Housing Acts where owners or managers fail to register 383W a lodging house or to give information, permit overcrowding, or fail to comply with management regulations.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergI am considering with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary the case for updating these penalties.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to improve the information available on the problems associated with hostels, lodging houses and houses in multiple occupation; and which local authorities his Department's housing services advisory unit has visited in this connection.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergDuring the recent debate on this subject initiated by my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Dean) my hon. Friend informed the House of the two ways in which we hope to improve the information available to this Department on this kind of accommodation.—[Vol. 974, c. 1619–30.] This is the major research project on the accommodation problems of disadvantaged single people and the visits being made by the Department's housing services advisory unit to those local authorities with experience of multiple occupation. So far members of the unit have visited the local authorities in the following list.