asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has made any changes to the procedures concerning applications from local councils to compulsorily purchase properties which have failed to be modernised or maintained by their owners if so, when these changes were made; what they are; and what were the reasonse for their being made.

There has been no change in these procedures.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many applications he has received from local councils compulsorily to purchase properties which have failed to be modernised or maintained by their owners in the current year; how many were approved; how long on average it took to process the applications; and how these figures compare with those for the corresponding periods since 1974.

During the first nine months of this year local authorities in England submitted 93 compulsory purchase orders made under part IV of the Housing Act 1974 to acquire and improve houses in housing action areas. In the same period 78 such orders were confirmed, the average period from submission to confirmation being 11½ months. The corresponding figures for 1978 are 124 and 55 respectively. In addition, some orders were made, submitted and confirmed under part V of the Housing Act 1957 and part II of the Housing Act 1969 for a similar purpose, but the numbers are not separately available. No figures are available for the years before 1978.