Empty Homes in the Civil Estate (Hansard, 18 July 1996)

Earl Ferrers

The number of empty homes in the civil estate owned by government departments fell by almost 600 between 1st April 1995 and 1st April 1996, a reduction of nearly 40 per cent.

In 1995–96 almost all government departments reduced the number of empty homes they hold. We are particularly pleased that the Home Office, Department of Transport and Scottish Office all exceeded their targets.

	Total stock at 1 April 1996	1995–96 Target for % empty	Achievement against target	1996–97 Target for % empty	1995–96 Target for % habitable homes empty more than 6 months	Achievement against target	1996–97 Target for % habitable homes empty more than 6 months	Action being taken to dispose of homes empty more than 6 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	<3%¹	20.5% (50)	<15%	<3%	9.0% (22)	<5%	7 sales in progress, 1 under offer, 3 to be auctioned. 7 awaiting disposal as part of larger package.
Scottish Office	213	<10%	9.8% (21)	1%	<3%	1.8% (4)	1%	Anticipated 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 1st 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 1996–97 make realistic provision for properties becoming empty during the year.

< = less than.

Notes:

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 he required to connect essential services such as water, sewage or electricity;

2. Figures for the National Health Service in England and Scotland are not included in the above table. The recent survey figures for England show a decrease in vacant properties from 1,800 at 1st December 1992 to 1,604 at 21st 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 does 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 1st April 1995 were: total stock 1,185—properties empty 113 [9.5 per cent.]. Figures at 1st 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 government departments (i.e. excluding MOD and the NHS) was 1,567 on 1st April 1995 and 970 on 1st April 1996, a reduction of 38.1 per cent.

76WA

Departments' progress demonstrates the Government's continued commitment to reduce the number of empty homes. The new, more exacting, targets which have been set for 1996–97 will build on this success. We are also confident that the sale of the Ministry of Defence married quarters estate will lead to an improvement in performance in tackling MoD empty homes.

Details of achievement against targets for 1995–96 and new targets for 1996–97 are below.