§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has about the length of time the numbers of empty dwellings in the answer of 19 December, Official Report, columns 263–4, have been empty.
§ Mr. John PattenEstimates based on local authorities' 1985 housing investment programme returns indicate that, of the 116,500 local authority dwellings vacant as at 1 April 1985, 26,100 had been vacant for more than a year and, of these, 13,500 had been vacant for more than two years. I do not have information about the length of time other dwellings have been empty as this is not collected centrally.