asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the latest annual figures available for completions and starts of local authority housing; how these compare with corresponding figures 10 years ago; and what plans he has to stimulate local authority house building.

In 1978, 77,000 local authority dwellings were started and 96,000 completed in Great Britain. In 1968 the comparable figures were 171,000 started and 170,000 completed.It is for individual authorities to decide on the level of new house building in their area in the light of local needs and circumstances.Under the new arrangements for housing investment programmes, as from 1980–1981 there will be a single block capital allocation. Each local authority will then be free to decide how it distributes its allocations between different types of capital expenditure: new house building home improvement, and so on.