§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on the action he has taken to ensure the expeditious sale of council houses to sitting tenants in the western part of the city of Leicester.
§ Mr. StanleySince April 1981 Leicester city council has been providing the Department with monthly figures of progress with the right to buy. On 21 July 1982, the council was given formal warning that the Secretary of State was contemplating use of his powers of intervention under section 23 of the Housing Act 1980 to enable its tenants to exercise the right to buy effectively and expeditiously. That warning remains in being. I met representatives of the council on 19 August 1982 to discuss the council's progress in detail. Since then officials have been in correspondence with the council on its general progress, its progress with the sale of flats, the arrangements under which purchasers will continue to take supplies from district heating systems or be disconnected from such supplies if they wish, and the council's practices in dealing with right-to-buy claim forms which contain mistakes or omissions of information.