§ Mr. RaynsfordTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing the proportion of residential housing stock owned by(a) local authorities, (b) housing associations, (c) private owners and (d) Government Departments, which were empty in each year from 1979.
§ Sir George YoungThe numbers of their own dwellings reported by local authorities and housing associations in England as vacant on 1 April in each year from 1979 to 1993 were as follows: 295W
Local authorities1 at 1 April Management vacants (000s)2 Other vacants (000s) Total vacants (000s) Total as a percentage of all LA dwellings 1979 n/a n/a 100 2.2 1980 n/a n/a 100 2.1 1981 n/a n/a 97 2.0 1982 n/a n/a 100 2.1 1983 n/a n/a 114 2.4 1984 n/a n/a 113 2.5 1985 n/a n/a 117 2.6 1986 n/a n/a 113 2.6 1987 54 59 112 2.5 1988 51 52 103 2.4 1989 51 50 101 2.4 1990 51 48 99 2.5 1991 43 40 83 2.1 1992 40 34 74 1.9 1993 40 31 71 1.9 1 The figures for the years up to 1986 exclude vacant dwellings owned by authorities situated outside their own area. 2 Available for letting immediately or after minor repairs. Source: Annual HIP1 returns.
Housing associations1 at 31 March: Management vacants (000s)2 Other vacants (000s) Total vacants (000s) Total as a percentage of all HA dwellings 1979 n/a n/a n/a n/a 1980 n/a n/a n/a n/a 1981 n/a n/a 28 6.9 1982 n/a n/a 32 7.7 1983 n/a n/a 31 7.1 1984 n/a n/a 27 5.5 1985 n/a n/a 26 5.5 1986 n/a n/a 26 5.2 1987 n/a n/a 24 4.8 1988 n/a n/a 24 4.7 1989 8 14 22 4.2 1990 7 13 20 3.5 1991 7 9 16 2.7 1992 7 9 16 2.5 19933 7 10 17 2.4 1 The figures for 1981 to 1988 are for England and Wales. 2 Available for letting immediately or after minor repairs. 3 Excludes some 10,500 dwellings that were purchased under the November 1992 Housing Market Package and were management vacants on 31st March 1993 SourceAnnual HAR10/1 returns.
n/a = not available.
In addition to providing information on those of their own dwellings that are vacant, local authorities in England are also asked to provide estimates of the numbers of private sector and other public sector vacant dwellings in their area on their annual housing investment programme returns. Estimates of the proportions of private sector dwellings that are vacant, based on these data and including estimates for those authorities which did not provide the information, are set out in the table. These proportions should be treated with care as there are doubts about the quality of some of the estimates provided by authorities.
Data on vacant Government Department-owned dwellings have been collected from Departments in recent years and the proportions reported as vacant are set out in the table. Corresponding figures for earlier years are not available. Most of the Government Departments' voids are Ministry of Defence properties. External consultants 296W advised MOD that in order to meet the demand for married accommodation from entitled service personnel an overall 9 per cent. management margin of vacant properties, excluding those held vacant for major works or deployment, should be maintained. The task force on Government Departments' empty houses was set up to help bring this property back into use, and it is expected to present its final report to Ministers shortly.
Private sector (other than housing associations) Government Departments percentage percentage 1979 4.0 n/a 1980 4.1 n/a 1981 4.1 n/a 1982 4.3 n/a 1983 4.2 n/a 1984 4.2 n/a 1985 4.1 n/a 1986 4.1 n/a 1987 4.1 n/a 1988 4.1 n/a 1989 4.1 18 1990 4.0 15 1991 4.2 13 1992 4.6 12 1993 5.0 15