HC Deb 02 July 2003 vol 408 c362W
Mr. Pickles

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many socially rented houses have been built in rural areas in each year since 1997. [121782]

Keith Hill

The numbers of registered social landlord and local authority dwellings built in 'rural' local authorities are in the following table.

Year Number of 'social rented' dwellings built in English rural authorities
1997 4,218
1998 3,459
1999 3,283
2000 3,542
2001 2,924
2002 2,021

Mr. Pickles

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many houses there were in the rented sector(a) in total and (b) broken down by region in (i) May 2003 and (ii) May 1997. [121815]

Keith Hill

The information available is in the following table.

Rented dwelling stock (000s) at 1 April 2002 Rented dwelling stock (000s) at 1 April 1997
North East 399 419
North West 875 927
Yorkshire and Humber 692 718
East Midlands 483 501
West Midlands 651 686
East 611 617
London 1293 1313
South East 819 840
South West 541 558
England 6365 6578