To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the relative state of repair of council housing (a) currently and (b) in 1980.
Assessments of the state of repair of council housing currently and in 1980 are not available. Estimates provided by the quinquennial English house condition survey show 76,000 local authority and new town dwellings in serious disrepair in 1981 and 85,000 in 1986. These figures represent 1·5 per cent. and 1·9 per cent. of the local authority and new town stock in these years.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to review the Government's new financial regime for local authority housing.
No fundamental review is necessary. We are committed however to developing certain aspects of the policy further; we will, for example, consult on proposals to define more closely the items in the housing revenue account (HRA) and to target HRA subsidy on management and maintenance needs. We shall also follow the customary practice with a new policy of evaluating its effect over the first few years.