§ Sir Hugh Rossiasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the comparative figures for arrears in England and Wales of (a) council house rents and (b) local authority mortgage repayments, showing (i) the global sum, (ii) the number of cases and (iii) the relationship of these figures to the total numbers of lettings and mortgages, respectively.
§ Mr. John Patten[pursuant to the reply, 5 February 1987, c. 765–66]: The latest estimates of arrears of mortgage repayments are that about 16,000 mortgagors or 3¼ per cent. of private persons with mortgages outstanding to English local authorities, were in arrears of six months or more at the end of 1985–86, for a total of about £10 million.
On council house rent arrears, I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Staffordshire (Mr. Heddle) on 10 December 1986, at column 188.