§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide in respect of houses in multiple occupation information on (a) the total number of notices served by all local housing authorities in England under section 147 and schedule 24 to the Housing Act 1980 (now sections 366 and 368 Housing Act 1985) in respect of means of escape from fire for each of the following years: 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985 and (b) the total amount of special grants made by all local housing 751W authorities in England towards the costs of means of escape from fire, including both mandatory and discretionary grants made for each of the above years.
§ Mr. TraceyInformation on the number of notices served is not available for all authorities. The following table gibes information for England and Wales published by the Institution of Environmental Health Officers:
Year Number of notices served Number of authorities making returns 1981–82 2,889 85 1982–83 2,346 84 1983–84 2,301 82 1984–85 3,197 80 The Department's postal survey gave a figure of 3,853 notices served in 1983–84, the difference being probably accounted for by the higher response rate (96 per cent.).
The following table gives information for England on special grants (both mandatory and discretionary) for the provision of means of escape from fire:
Year Number of grants Total amount of grant £000 1982 1,130 1,604 1983 1,380 2,532 1984 1,830 4,303 1985 1,820 4,421