asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring forward legislation to encourage local authorities to form strong tenants' associations.

Any question of legislation would need to be considered in the light of the various research projects, which my Department has promoted or is associated with, on the range of ways in which local authority tenants can increasingly be associated with the management of the houses they live in; of the Working Party in Housing Cooperatives, which includes within its terms of reference the study of tenants' participation; and of the further work we have initiated, with the local authority associations and the Institute of Housing Managers, on housing management matters generally.