asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the conclusions of the Royal Institute of British Architects' publication "Local Authority Housing Repair and Maintenance Needs", a copy of which he has received, which relates to matters within his responsibility.

I read this report with great interest.My Department is now processing local authorities' responses to our own recent inquiry into the repair and improvement needs of local authority housing stock; we hope that first results will be available by the end of this month. It will be useful to compare RIBA's findings with our own.