To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to increase the number of homes built in 1990–91.

[holding answer 21 June 1990]: The Government do not attempt to forecast output of private housebuilders, who build some 85 per cent. of new houses. Output of subsidised dwellings by housing associations financed by the Housing Corporation in England is expected to rise substantially between 1989–90 and 1990–91, more than offsetting an expected decline in new housebuilding by local authorities.