Empty Homes (Hansard, 18 July 1996)

§ Mr. Merchant

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how Departments performed against last year's targets for reducing empty homes; and what new targets have been set for 1996–97. [38816]

	Total slock at 1 April 1996	1995–96 target for percentage empty	Achievement against target	1996–97 target for percentage empty	1995–96 target for percentage habitable homes empty more than six months	Percentage achievement against target	1996–97 target for percentage habitable homes empty more titan six months	Action being taken to dispose of homes empty more than six months
Home Office	3,455	<11	7 (242)	<6	<3	0.3 (10)	1	—
Department of Transport	3,532	<25	18.9 (669)	<17	<9	8.3 (293)	<7	194 of these homes are in the process of being sold, including 60 being auctioned. 99 are in the process of being let
Welsh Office	243	¹<3	20.5 (50)	<15	3	9.0 (22)	<5	Seven sales in progress, one under offer, three to be auctioned. Seven awaiting disposal as part of larger package
Scottish Office	213	10	9.8 (21)	1	<3	1.8 (4)	1	Expected occupation of all houses by winter 1996
Ministry of Defence	70,409	To dispose of 1,500 homes by April 1996 and to dispose of a further 2,500 by end summer 1996	1,703 disposed of by April	To dispose of 4,000 empty homes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
¹ The 3 per cent. target was based on the position at 1 April 1995. In relation to the properties empty at that time 2.8 per cent. are still empty. However, others have become empty since then. The targets for 1996ߝ97 make realistic provision for properties becoming empty during the year.
<=less than.
1. Properties that are "habitable"include all properties except:
(a) derelict properties that await demolition (e.g., to make way for road schemes),
(b) those that are expected to be demolished in the near future where the expenditure required to make them habitable would be disproportionate to their expected life (e.g. where substantial investment would be required to connect essential services such as water, sewage or electricity),
(c) those that cannot be made accessible (e.g., due to adjacent construction works).
2. Figures for the national health service in England and Scotland are not included in the table. The recent survey figures for England show a decrease in vacant properties from 1,800 at 1 December 1992 to 1,604 at 21 October 1995. The target for this period was to reduce the number of vacant properties to 1,100. The NHS is committed to future reductions in the number of empty properties held, but do not intend to carry out further surveys since the void rate equates to only about 3.5 units per NHS trust. Figures for NHS Trust properties in Scotland at 1 April 1995 were; total stock 1,185—properties empty 113 [9.5 per cent.]. Figures at 1 April 1996 are; total stock 1,087—properties empty 162 [14.9 per cent.]. The NHS in Scotland is also committed to future reductions in the number of empty properties held.
3. The Welsh Office figure includes information about empty property belonging to health authorities and NHS trusts in Wales.
4. The total number of empty homes in the civil estate owned by Govnerment Departments—(i.e., excluding MOD and the NHS—was 1,567 on 1 April 1995 and 970 on 1 April 1996, a reduction of 38.1 per cent.

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