§ Mr. NellistTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in theOfficial Report his letter in response to the written question from the hon. Member for Barnsley, East (Mr. Patchett), Official Report, 1 November, column 694, on home repossessions.
§ Mr. KeyThe text of the reply sent on 12 November was as follows
165WI was unable to provide an answer to your question about mortgage possessions before the Recess and in my reply of 1 November I said I would write.The available information on the number of properties taken into possession is based on statistics provided by the largest building societies (and Abbey National). These figures are published every six months by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and a copy of their latest press release is enclosed, with the figures you require at Table 1. I understand that the CML is planning to extend the coverage of these statistics to other mortgage lenders, including banks, insurance companies and finance houses.Local authorities have also provided limited mortgage lending where buyers have found it difficult to obtain funds from elsewhere. The scale of such lending is now very small. The information provided by English local authorities on properties taken into possession in the financial years 1978–79 to 1989–90 is given in the attached table.Copies of the documents referred to are in the Library.