§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the total new housing starts in England and Wales in each of the years since 1970.
§ Sir George YoungThe figures for England from 1976 to 1985 appear in table 2 of my Department's monthly housing statistics press notice issued on 2 May and figures for the earlier years appear in table 72(a) of "Housing and Construction Statistics 1970–1980"; copies are in the Library. For information on housebuilding in Wales, I refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has received from the Audit Commission concerning the rate of increase of the cost of bringing up to standard the housing stock in the United Kingdom.
§ Sir George YoungThe Audit Commission has given an estimate, in its response to my Department's consultations on systems of local authority capital 293W expenditure control, that the backlog of maintenance work needed to the local authority housing stock in England and Wales might be growing at £750 million a year. I understand that this estimate is based on a theoretical model relating the age of the stock to the lives of building components, rather than on direct observations. Further information will be available in the commission's forthcoming report on local authority housing maintenance.
The commission has made no estimates concerning the private sector stock.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will estimate the total cost of bringing up to standard all housing in (a) the private sector and (b) the public sector.
1976 1981 Thousands Per cent, of stock Thousands Per cent, of stock Dwellings in serious disrepair* and/or unfit of which: 1,557 9.1 1,690 9.4 in serious disrepair* 859 5.0 1,049 5.8 unfit 1,162 6.8 1,116 6.2 * requiring repairs costing £7,000 or more at 1981 prices. In 1981 an estimated 3.9 million dwellings (21.7 per cent.) needed repairs of £2,500 or more; a corresponding figure for 1976 is not available.