Council House Starts

Mr. Frank Allaun
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many council house starts there were in 1979; and what are his estimates for 1980 and 1981.

Mr. Stanley
47,000 new council houses were started in England in the year ending 31 December 1979. In 1980 and 1981 it will be for local authorities to decide what proportion of their single block housing investment programme allocation to devote to new council house building.