§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he proposes to take on rent levels following the publication of the Association of District Councils/Association of Metropolitan Authorities housing finance survey.
§ Sir George YoungThe joint Association of District Councils and Association of Metropolitan Authorities housing finance survey provides a useful contribution to the information which the Department gathers during the course of the financial year, and I was pleased to have a discussion with the associations about their 1993–94 survey at the meeting of the Housing Consultative Council on 7 July. My Department will, as usual, form a view of the emerging picture-6n local authority housing finance, and all of this information will be taken carefully into account when we reach decisions on the housing revenue account subsidy determinations for 1994–95 towards the end of the year. The level of actual council rents will remain a matter for each housing authority to decide.
§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing the average gross rent before rebate housing benefit for each year since 1978 to date, and with an estimate for 1993, for(a) local authority and (b) housing association dwellings in current prices, in constant prices, and on an index where 1978 = 100.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 26 July 1993]: The available information is as follows:
901W
Average weekly unrebated local authority rent at April At current prices At constant (April 1993) prices Current price index £pw £pw 1978 5.83 16.89 100 1979 6.41 16.87 110 1980 7.70 16.65 132 1981 11.42 22.03 196 1982 13.48 23.77 229 1983 13.97 23.69 240 1984 14.66 23.64 251 1985 15.54 23.43 267 1986 16.36 23.94 281 1987 17.70 24.85 304 1988 18.82 25.42 323 1989 20.70 25.88 355 1990 23.76 27.14 408
At current prices At constant (April 1993) prices Current price index £pw £pw 1991 27.28 29.29 468 1992 30.57 31.47 524 1993 33.52 33.52 575
Average weekly mean registered housing assocation rent1 2 At current prices At constant (Q1 1993) prices Current price index £pw £pw 1978 10.05 27.89 100 1979 10.66 26.08 106 1980 12.48 25.89 124 1981 14.08 26.10 140 1982 15.61 26.65 155 1983 17.20 28.08 171 1984 18.66 29.01 186 1985 19.72 28.85 196 1986 21.40 30.34 213 1987 22.86 31.11 227 1988 24.97 32.39 248 1989 26.75 32.20 266 1990 29.86 32.84 297 1991 32.64 33.91 325 1992 36.38 36.43 362 1993 37.99 37.99 378 1 Includes service charges. 2 Excludes shared ownership tenancies.