§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, pursuant to his answer to the hon.
664Wproposals set out in the White Paper "Rates" by respondent, in the following groups:(a) local authorities and major organisations, including the local authority associations, individual local authorities, trade associations, political parties, charities, major companies and national or federated ratepayers' organisations, (b) professionally-involved or qualified groups or individuals, including professional bodies, academics, trade unions, hon. Members and councillors, and (c) the general public, including members of the public, ratepayers' and residents' groups, small private companies and local political parties (constituency and ward level); if he will give, for each of those categories of respondent the number indicating preference for (i) a system of selective rate limitation and (ii) a system of general rate limitation; and if he will give for each of those categories of respondent the number indicating agreement with (x) the Government's rejection of alternatives to rates especially local income tax and (y) the reasoning contained in paragraph 1.6 of the White Paper.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThis information is not available in the precise form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The table gives in a similar format a summary of responses to the White Paper registered by 30 November.
The questions (x) and (y) are not susceptible to statistical analysis. Many responses expressed general views on these issues supporting or opposing the Government's arguments.
It is estimated that about 650 letters received in response to the White Paper by 30 November were generated as a result of a campaign organised by the Inner London education authority.
There were also 77 responses concerned only with the detailed rate reform proposals set out in chapter 5 of the White Paper, and expressing no view about rate limitation.
As might be expected with a formal consultation process of this nature, unsolicited comments from ratepayers and business men as individuals were relatively few in number. Since the consultation on the White Paper ended and our Rates Bill has been introduced, I have received a very large number of letters supporting our proposals.
Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands on 21 December, Official Report, c. 428, he will list the local authorities with which his Department is in contact about aspects of their performance in implementing the right to buy council 665W houses; and whether he will indicate the aspects of the performance of those councils which are giving cause for concern.
§ Mr. GowThose authorities with which my Department is in formal contact about right-to-buy progress are as follows:
Ashford Mid Devon Ashfield Mid Suffolk Barking and Dagenham Mole Valley Barnet Newbury Barnsley Newham Barrow North Devon Basildon North Dorset Blackpool North Hertfordshire Bolsover North-West Leicestershire Breckland Norwich Brent Nottingham Brentwood Oldham Bridgnorth Oxford Camden Peterborough Cherwell Preston Chesterfield Poole Chester-le-Street Reading Chiltern Richmondshire Copeland Richmond-upon-Thames Craven Rochdale Crawley Rother Dacorum St. Albans Daventry St. Helens Derby Sandwell Durham Scarborough Ellesmere Port and Neston Scunthorpe Enfield Sedgemoor Epping Forest Sheffield Forest of Dean Slough Fylde Southampton Gateshead South Bedfordshire Great Yarmouth South Derbyshire Greater London council South Northamptonshire Greenwich South Tyneside Hackney Southwark Hammershith and Fulham Stafford Haringey Stevenage Harlow Stroud High Peak Sunderland Hillingdon Surrey Heath Hounslow Sutton Ipswich Three Rivers Islington Thurrock Kensington and Chelsea Torridge Kingston-upon-Hull Tower Hamlets Kirklees Trafford Lambeth Wakefield Langbaurgh Waltham Forest Leeds Wansbeck Leicester Wandsworth Leominster Watford Lewisham West Dorset Lichfield Westminster Liverpool Woking Luton Wolverhampton Maldon Worcester Manchester Wychavon Mid Bedfordshire Wyre Those aspects of right-to-buy performance which have been taken up by my Department concern mainly the ability of tenants to complete the purchase of their homes expeditiously and on reasonable terms. My right hon. Friend is determined that the right to buy should be delivered freely and speedily to every secure tenant wishing to buy his home. He has informed all local authorities that he expects sales to be completed normally within 3 to 4 months of admission of the right to buy when the tenant proceeds expeditiously.
666WThe following authorities have also been requested to provide information on current right-to-buy progress, but in a number of cases this is intended merely to update or clarify the position. Some of the authorities sell mainly under voluntary arrangements.
Aylesbury Vale Mid Sussex Basingstoke and Deane Newark Bath North Kesteven Blackburn Pendle Broadland Redditch Bromsgrove Restormel Broxbourne Rochford Boston Rossendale Bournemouth Rushcliffe Bury St. Edmundsbury Canterbury Salisbury Caradon Shepway Castle Point Solihull Chester Southend Chorley South Oxfordshire Colchester Suffolk Coastal Dartford Swale East Devon Tendring Eden Test Valley Elmbridge Vale of White Horse Exeter Warwick Gillingham Waverley Guildford West Oxfordshire Hart Wimborne Hastings Winchester Havant Windsor and Maidenhead Hereford Wokingham Hertsmere Worthing Maidstone Wycombe Melton Wyre Forest My Department is now in contact with 176 councils on their performance on the right-to-buy, a reduction in the total number since the answer to my hon. Friend on 21 December given by my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, Acton (Sir G. Young). In view of the substantial progress made in recent months, my right hon. Friend looks for further reductions in the near future.