Mr. MartinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the Government will respond to the report of the task force on Government Departments' empty houses; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungI am pleased to announce that the final report of the task force on Government Departments' empty houses was published today, along with a Government response to its seven recommendations. A copy of both documents has been placed in the Library.
The Government welcome the task force's report and believe it has made a valuable contribution to making more effective use of empty residential Government properties. We will consider how the draft code of practice prepared by the task force to help achieve reductions in the number of empty properties can best be adopted by each relevant Government Department. I plan to circulate the code to local authority and housing association managers.
Where a residential property in an area of housing stress has stood empty for six months and no sale has taken place, the Government will implement the policy whereby sale or short-term leasing for social housing shall have priority. The Government also propose to set annual targets for empty residential property and to publish the Department's achievements at the end of each year.