§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authority dwellings underwent home insulation treatment as part of a local authority insulation programme in 1980 and 1981; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George Young366,000 dwellings were insulated by local authorities in England in 1980 and it is provisionally estimated that 139,000 dwellings will have been insulated in 1981. Of the 366,000, 200,000 dwellings were insulated in the first quarter, as many as the target for a whole year when the 10-year programme for 2 million council houses was instituted in 1978. This exceptional rate of insulation could not be expected to continue.
Since April 1980, local authorities have been free to devote as much of their block capital allocations as they wish to insulating their dwellings.