asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what new arrangements he is making for housing overspill from Middlesex.

The Middlesex authorities themselves are able to enter into any overspill arrangements they consider necessary and desirable. The long-term overspill needs of Greater London as a whole, including Middlesex, are being studied in the Ministry as part of the general problem of the South-East.

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that it is precisely because the County of Middlesex has no housing powers like London and other conurbations that it is necessary for him to initiate fresh overspill arrangements? Does he appreciate that the present arrangements will provide for only about 13,000 houses for the needs of people in Middlesex in the next ten years whereas there is an urgent need for double that number? If the right hon. Gentleman is waiting for reorganisation of local government, that will be too late because of the time that these things take to materialise.

The district councils have the power and, as the hon. Lady knows, in a number of cases, such as in the St. Neots scheme and the Bletchley scheme, have acted. Indeed, under the Housing Act which has just gone on the Statute Book, there is power to help the recipient authority. I recognise that there is a need and that there will be a growing need for such overspill arrangements, but the powers are with the district councils and it is for them to operate them.

Is the Minister aware that the authorities in Middlesex have said that whatever arrangements they make will be completely inadequate and cannot deal with the problem? Local authorities have admitted that.

I am sure that the district councils have the power to do what is sought and that no action is called for from me in this regard.

Is the Minister suggesting that a hundred houses a year at St. Neots will be adequate to deal with the Middlesex overspill problem?

No, not at all. There is a need for overspill arrangements for people from Middlesex. I am saying that the power resides with the district councils.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will introduce legislation to secure from local authorities details of evictions under the Rent Act and from other causes.

To do this would not help local authorities to deal with their housing problems: it would simply add to their burden of work which is already heavy enough.

When will the right hon. Gentleman wake up from the complacency of his colleagues on the Government Front Bench? Is he aware that we are sure that if there were an epidemic, he would stir the Ministry of Health to action? Is not this a social epidemic just as serious? Is the Minister quite heartless about the homeless in London and about the families which are being evicted in Slough, with children going to institutions and their parents separated and grubbing where they can? Is not the Minister aware of the scandal that this represents?

Thirty-nine eviction orders were reported to the Slough Council last year.

There are many more this year.

Four of them were obtained by the local authority. Let us face the real issue, which is that of housing in Slough. I recognise that there are difficulties. In the last ten years, 5,000 new houses have been built but the popula tion in the meantime has risen by 16,000. Next year, Slough will get approved the houses that it is able to build. That is the way to tackle the problem and not by turning this into a political issue.

Is the Minister aware that this has always been a political issue and that his predecessor made no bones about it? If information about the working of the Rent Act would not help the local authorities, might it not at least help the Ministry towards a wiser policy?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will introduce legislation to give powers to rent tribunals to fix the rent of unfurnished lettings.

No, Sir.

Is not the Minister aware that London is graced by more rent exploitation than ever before? If the Government seriously want a pay pause, must we not have a rent pause as well? Is the Minister simply sitting back and doing nothing at all about it?

I shall certainly not sit back, but the Question seeks a reversion to rent control and that I am not willing to accept.

In view of the unsatisfactory nature of that reply, I propose to raise the matter on the Adjournment.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will take steps to collect and publish statistics showing how much new housing accommodation to rent is being provided by private builders.

No, Sir.

Did not the Government promise that, as a result of their housing policies, more private builders would build more houses to let? Was not that pretty well the carrot that was dangled before the House on more than one occasion? Is not the reason why the Government do not wish to collect these statistics the fact that they would show that in holding out that promise, the Government were guilty of a gigantic and cruel hoax at the expense of the people who desperately need houses?

The Rent Act had many objectives, including the conversion of large houses into flats, the improvement of property and better maintenance and repair. Those objectives have been achieved. It is a little odd that this complaint of too little housing to rent should come from a party which has done its best to discourage it by promising to repeal the Rent Act should it ever get back to power.

Since Government policy relies more and more on private building and discourages council building, ought not the Minister to be willing to obtain some sort of information as to the extent to which private building is meeting the need for accommodation to let?

Every house, whether built by a local authority or a private builder, makes a contribution to the housing accommodation of the country.

Will not the right hon. Gentleman inform himself where the houses are being built in relation to the needs of the various localities? Is it not essential for his Department to have this information?

It is not essential for us to impose upon anyone the burden of gathering these additional statistics.

In view of the continued unsatisfactory nature of the right hon. Gentleman's replies, I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter, too, on the Adjournment.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what reply he has sent to the communication sent him by the Blyth Borough Council on the economic situation and its effect on the local housing programme; and what assistance he will give towards a solution of their housing problem.

I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the reply which has been sent to the council. I am not clear that it needs special assistance.

Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that this is simply not good enough and that quack remedies are no longer a solution to the type of housing problem that the Blyth local authority is facing? Is he further aware that a statement was made some time ago that the housing problem existed only in the larger centres? Last year, in the Borough of Blyth, with over 1,300 people on the waiting list, no new houses were built. Is the Minister aware that if we are to clear this housing list, the Government must turn their back on their traditional housing policies and do something about it very quickly?

My information about the problems of Blyth, which the hon. Member has raised, is that two important problems confronted the local authority: shortage of land due to mining subsidence and the need of a new sewage scheme. Furthermore, by pooling rents and subsidies and applying a differential rent scheme, the local authority could find additional resources.

In view of the unsatisfactory nature of that reply. I give notice of my intention to raise this matter on the Adjournment.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what steps he is taking to assist local authorities whose housing programmes are restricted by the interest rate charged for loans by the Public Works Loan Board.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what steps he is taking to assist local authorities whose housing programmes are restricted by the interest rate charged for loans from the Public Works Loan Board or from the money market.

The recent Housing Act has improved subsidies for the authorities in greatest financial need. Authorities can further help themselves by making sure that they are charging reasonable rents and using Exchequer subsidy to help only those tenants who genuinely need it.

Is the Minister aware that, in reply to a previous Question, he said that there were only two difficulties facing the Borough of Blythe in its housing programme? Is he further aware that in the borough, a £2,000 house which in 1955 needed £5,040 on loan charges over 60 years, now needs £8,520, an increase of £3,480 and that this represents an increase of the weekly equivalent of £1 2s. 3d? How can the Minister say that our housing problems are being tackled if these are the difficulties that local authorities have to face?

I did not suggest that they were the only two problems, but they are two important problems which confront the local authorities. On the general proposition of the council, that interest rates for housing should be lowered, all I can say is that that would be a breach in the Government's credit policy which they are not prepared to undertake.

Is it not a fact that cities with such terrible housing lists as Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle, far from benefiting under the Housing Act, will suffer a lower subidy? They will enjoy £8 a year instead of £22 a year subsidy. Secondly, is the Minister aware that these restricted programmes plus increased council house rents are causing widespread discontent with local authorities for which the Government are entirely responsible owing to their increased charges? Many of these councils are Labour-controlled and the Government are making them—[HON. MEMBERS: "Speech."] Are not the Government making them the scapegoat for their own sins?

In reply to the first point, this House approved the principle that there should be a differential rate of subsidy between those authorities with the greater resources and those with the smaller resources, and that is an entirely fair principle. In regard to the hon. Member's second point, and, in particular, his reference to rents, I find it difficult to reconcile what he has said with the fact that in his own constituency the rent of a postwar three-bedroom house is 25s. 4d. and of a pre-war three-bedroom house 19s. 11d.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will introduce legislation to prohibit advertisements of houses to let which mention a bar against children.

I do not think that such legislation would help to solve the problem the hon. Member has in mind.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that this discrimination against people who commit the crime of having children is nauseating? Is he aware that, while in a free society people must be free to let their houses to whom they please, at least we should not underwrite the practice to which the Question refers but should show our disapproval by making it impossible to advertise the fact?

I have great sympathy with the basis of my hon. Friend's supplementary question but his suggestion is that these words should be forbidden in advertisements. I fear that if they were so forbidden couples might well waste much time answering advertisements only to be told that children would not be allowed. The basic problem is the provision of more houses and not more legislation.

Will the right hon. Gentleman notice that he is now getting from behind him evidence of one of the results of the Rent Act?

I am getting from behind me a sympathetic reference to a problem—a sympathy which I share.

Will my right hon. Friend note that I do not regard this as an outcome of the Rent Act?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will give his planning consent to the City of London Corporation to release for the immediate building of houses the City Corporation's site of some 20 acres at the disused Caledonian Market that has remained derelict since the war.

I want to see the whole of the Caledonian Market site put to good use as quickly as possible, though there is no outstanding application for planning permission. Proposals for zoning this land for residential and other social uses are before me as part of the London County Council's review of the development plan, and I hope to publish my provisional conclusions early next year. There is, however, nothing to preclude an application being made meanwhile in respect of any particular site. I am ready to consider any application that may be made on its merits.

I am glad to hear that reply, because I gather from it that the right hon. Gentleman realises that it has really been a scandal—[HON. MEMBERS: "Question."] I ask the Minister whether I am right in understanding him to agree that it really is a scandal that, despite the acute shortage of houses in London a site of 20 acres—[HON. MEMBERS: "Question."] Am I right in thinking that the right hon. Gentleman agrees that it really is a scandal that, despite the acute shortage of houses in London, this site of 20 acres should not be utilised for housing? May we take it that he will use his dynamic influence in this matter?

I join with the hon. Gentleman in hoping that this site will be developed as speedily as possible.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the statement that 20 acres are disused is incorrect, and that the City Corporation has itself applied to develop 5 acres, which is the only part open to development at the moment?

The facts my hon. and learned Friend gives me do not entirely coincide with my own, but I will look into the matter.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will introduce legislation as a matter of urgency to give local authorities extended powers to deal with the growing problem of homeless families.

Local authorities already possess adequate powers to deal with this problem, including the power to acquire empty premises by agreement or compulsorily. Accordingly, powers to requisition empty premises are unnecessary. Power to requisition occupied property would be pointless.

May we take it from that reply that the right hon. Gentleman will support any application by any local authority to acquire by requisition any empty property for housing the increasing number of homeless families in London?

I have made it abundantly plain to the London County Council that if compulsory purchase orders are made on empty property, with the purpose which the hon. Gentleman has in mind, I will expedite with all possible speed the consideration of those orders. I should add that over the past six months during which this problem has been causing considerable concern I have had no such applications.

Would not the right hon. Gentleman agree that, however much he expedites consideration of compulsory purchase orders, compulsory purchase is still a slow process—too slow in this emergency—and that it is from that fact that the need for requisitioning powers arises?

The post-war requisitioning powers took on average about six weeks, while compulsory purchase may be assumed to take 12 to 13 weeks. The difference in time between the two procedures is due to the fact that there is a proper right of appeal by the owner against what is proposed.

Questions to the Prime Minister.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I have had Question No. 33 on the Order Paper for early answer for the past four weeks. As the Minister of Housing and Local Government now goes to the bottom of the list, how can I possibly get my Question answered?

I express sympathy with the hon. Gentleman but I cannot deal with it or with a point of order now.