§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on trends in the number of empty(a) local authority homes, (b) private homes, (c) Government properties containing residential accommodation and (d) flats above shops in each of the last 12 years. [32330]
§ Mr. Macdonald[holding answer 3 March 1998]: Information on the number of local authority vacant dwellings in each of the last 12 years and the number of Scottish Office vacant dwellings since 1989 is shown in the table. Information on vacant private dwellings and vacant flats above shops is not collected centrally. Information on Scottish Office vacant dwellings is not available for the period before 1989.
Year Local authorities dwellings vacant at 31 March1 (rounded to nearest 100) Scottish Office vacant dwellings at 1 April1 (inclusive of NHS properties) Scottish Office vacant dwellings at 1 April2 (exclusive of NHS property) 1986 20,700 not available not available 1987 22,100 not available not available 1988 23,800 not available not available 1989 25,900 502 not available 1990 26,000 319 not available 1991 23,200 310 not available 1992 22,300 246 not available 1993 18,600 239 not available 1994 17,800 158 not available 1995 16,400 not available 6 1996 18,100 not available 4 1997 18,100 not available 34 1 Statistics relate to all dwellings which were vacant for any reason. 2 Statistics relate to dwellings which have been vacant for more than 6 months and which are now available for sale. 3 Figure relates to 1 October 1997.