HC Deb 02 November 1988 vol 139 c685W
53. Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he proposes to give to local authorities which have no housing stock about their fulfilment of their statutory duty to house the homeless.

Mr. Trippier

In June of this year, the Department issued guidelines on "Large Scale Voluntary Transfers of Local Authority Housing to Private Bodies". This makes it clear that local authorities must make adequate arrangements to continue to meet their statutory obligations in relation to housing the homeless under part III of the Housing Act 1985. In deciding whether to give consent to large-scale disposals, the Secretary of State will need to be satisfied that such arrangements have been made.