To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total cost since its inception of advertising the council house right-to-buy scheme; what plans he has for a further advertising campaign; and what estimate he has made of the cost of such a campaign.

A total of £4·5 million has been spent on seven publicity campaigns since the inception of the right to buy in 1980.A further campaign in the autumn will publicise the introduction of the option to buy on rents-to-mortgages terms. Detailed costings are not yet available, but are likely to be similar to those of our most recent campaign, earlier this year, which cost about £1 million.