asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will introduce legislation to restrict the price of land in popular shopping areas.

No, Sir.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the effect of these exorbitant prices, first on articles in shops, secondly in prohibiting small shopkeepers from obtaining sites, and thirdly on the rents for the flats which will be built above the shops? Is he aware that recently in Slough High Street a site has been sold at £1 million an acre or £3,500 per foot of frontage? Will the right hon. Gentleman stop this robbery by private interests of values created by the community?

The hon. Member represents a very prosperous area and he must expect high prices to follow high demand. As for the small shopkeepers, I recognise that to them this may be a real problem, and I shall be given advice to local authorities at length on this problem soon.

Will the right hon. Gentleman realise that these high prices go into the hands of private persons who have added nothing to the total wealth of the nation and that as long as the Government allow this it is complete nonsense to talk of an incomes policy?

The public are well served by management initiative in shops as in anything else and the enlivenment and vitality of our city centres themselves are of much benefit to the public.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he is aware that disproportionate rate burdens in the country districts, despite limited public services, are encouraging the depopulation of the countryside; and what steps he proposes to take to counteract this tendency.

In 1962–63 in England and Wales the average rate payment per dwelling in rural districts was only three-quarters of the average payment in urban areas other than London—less if London is included. I cannot therefore accept my hon. Friend's premise.

:Is my right hon. Friend aware of how far behind these public services often fall and that there are still many people who wish to live in the real countryside but who are deterred from doing so by the amount they have to pay for what they can get?

I do not disguise that behind the averages there are areas where there is a problem here, but my hon. Friend will bear in mind that education and health services are probably provided to the same standards in the country as elsewhere, that they are certainly more expensive, and that the lack of any services should be reflected in the rental values an which rateable values are based.

Does my right hon. Friend realise the other kinds of burdens which country people have to bear, such as drainage rates which can weigh inequitably on people who live in the countryside? Is he also aware that the diminution of the railway services which we are to expect will mean that other services will be even further diminished?

:My hon. Friend must realise that I am answering strictly the Question on the Order Paper, which is about the level of rates.

Is it not the case that the chief causes of depopulation are, first, lack of employment and, secondly, lack of amenity, and that the increased rate burden which is taking effect in the rural areas as a result of revaluation is adding to the number of causes of depopulation? Will this aspect be borne in mind in the inquiry which the right hon. Gentleman has just instituted?

:As far as I can see, there is a considerable movement into the country, and depopulation, where it exists, is largely the result of mechanisation and improved efficiency in agriculture.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs by how much the rate deficiency grant to Dorset will be reduced as a result of revaluation.

The preliminary estimate for 1963–64 puts the rate of grant payable to the county council at 12·807 per cent., compared with 15·374 per cent. on the revised estimate for 1962–63. On the basis of the council's estimated expenditure for 1962–63 this represents a reduction of about £110,000.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that people in Dorset, where the householder has been most hit by revaluation, find it hard to understand why the amount of Exchequer help should be reduced in this way?

:I do not think that that experience is general throughout Dorset, but the fact is that, compared with the national average, Dorset is relatively less in need of rate deficiency grant than it was. The rate deficiency grant nationally has risen by £16 million.

:Is the Minister aware that the other local authorities which have gained by the changes in rate deficiency grant have had their expectations dashed by the Government indicating that they will alter the rules concerning the rate deficiency grant in order to take that saving from them? Are not the Government trying to have it both ways?

That is another question.

Is the Minister aware that counties like Dorset suffer particularly from the cost of services which have to be provided for inflated populations during the summer months and that this question should be borne in mind in evaluating the rate deficiency grant?

The constitution of the formula on which grant is based is under discussion this year.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if the strength of the Alkali Inspectorate is now up to establishment; and to what extent the regional offices are fully manned.

The district offices are adequately manned at present, but the effect of the recent Alkali Works Order is being closely watched. If and when necessary two additional inspectors will be recruited to bring the strength up to establishment.

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that constant attention ought to be given to highly industrialised areas like Tees-side, where chemicals play a great part? The question of the obnoxious smells which prevail in these areas has often been raised in the House. Does not the hon. Gentleman think constant attention should be paid to these areas so that when difficulty arises immediate action can be taken to deal with it?

:As I told the hon. Gentleman, the matter is being very closely watched, but the Chief Alkali Inspector advises me that the Tees-side area has never been more free from complaint than it is at present, apart from the dust fall as Eston, about which no doubt the hon. Gentleman knows. The Inspectorate has continuing concern in this matter, but the solution depends to a large extent on technical progress, quite apart from the question of manpower.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that, irrespective of what the Chief Alkali Inspector may say, protests are still coming in from the general public in the area that these obnoxious smells still prevail?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will allow domestic sewage systems to rank for grant where these systems will have to be installed as a result of action by river boards arising from the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act, 1961.

There is no provision for Exchequer grant towards the cost of action to reduce river pollution in compliance with the 1961 Act, and my right hon. Friend does not think that grant for this purpose would be justified.

Is not my hon. Friend aware of the grave hardship which this very undesirable piece of Private Member's legislation is causing to the entire farming community who live anywhere near a river and a great many private people who live in what might loosely be called new suburban areas not yet served by urban sewerage? This is a grave problem, and will my hon. Friend look at it again in a far more sympathetic light?

If my hon. Friend will send me any evidence of grave hardship, I will look at it, as I always do in matters of this sort, but I have no evidence of it myself.

:I have already sent my hon. Friend one or two letters and I would refrain from inundating him with frivolous complaints, but hon. Members on both sides of the House are aware of this.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what progress has been made in the past two months in persuading the Essex County Council to make proper provision for winter camping sites for the gypsies who normally gain their summer livelihood within that county.

I understand that the Essex County Council is looking for suitable sites and will be holding discussions with the district councils concerned when sites have been found.

:Is it not manifestly unfair that the ratepayers of Kent should be burdened by providing sites and having the disamenity of Essex gypsies unloaded on to them every winter when these people find their living in the summer in Essex? Surely the Essex County Council should at least play the same active part as the Kent County Council is playing.

:As I think my hon. Friend knows, as a result of a survey in March, 1962, the Essex County Planning Committee decided to take no action because of the small number of caravans involved. He also probably knows that, as a result of a conference which I convened and at which I took the chair, Essex County Council agreed to reconsider its attitude and is now seeking sites, as I have informed the House.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will make a statement on the steps which the Alkali Inspectorate have taken and propose to take to abate the nuisance caused to residents in Leicester owing to the emissions from the local power station.

Tests show that the Inspectorate has secured a major reduction in grit and dust emissions. Trouble has arisen from the erratic performance of the precipitators. Further improvements to these are being made this summer and additional precipitators should be in operation in 1964.

Is the Minister aware that this has been going on for 10 or 12 years, that bags of soot and of grit are being sent to me and that the whole aspect of the clean air idea is being thoroughly misunderstood by the people in the district, because they cannot for the life of them understand why they should have to keep their fires clear of the kind of coal which emits dirt, whereas these centres are literally spoiling part of their lives that should be enjoyed in cleanliness? Will the Minister please do something to clear up this matter as quickly as possible?

Since the works came under the jurisdiction of the Inspectorate in 1958, grit and dust emissions have, I am informed, been reduced to one-third of the original amount. That is a substantial achievement. As to the future, I have told the hon. Member before that improvements to be carried out this summer will cost in the neighbourhood of £90,000 and that the long-term improvements which will be ready during 1964, to which I have also referred, will cost a further £190,000. The last time that the hon. Member asked a Question, on 2nd April, he said that he would raise the matter on the Adjournment. I hope that he will do so, because I should be delighted to elaborate on the strenuous efforts that are being made.

On a point of order. I am greatly obliged to the Minister for inviting me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I shall certainly try to do so at the earliest possible opportunity.

Will the hon. Member be good enough to indicate what point of order he was raising?

:I was saying, Mr. Speaker, that I propose to raise this matter at the earliest opportunity on the Adjournment.

I note what the hon. Member says.

asked the Minister for Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs (1) why the redistribution of rates has been applied in such a way in the urban district of Denton that the share paid by industry has fallen from 15·6 per cent. of the whole to 15 per cent., whereas the national average for industry has risen from 11·2 per cent. to 16·32 per cent., thus placing a greater share of the rate-burden on domestic ratepayers; and what steps he proposes to take to raise the share of rates paid by industry there at least to the national average, with a corresponding decrease in the domestic rate burden;

(2) what reply he has made to the resolution recently sent to him by the Urban District Council of Denton, Lanes., protesting against the disparity between the redistributed rates in Denton and those applying in the country as a whole; and what steps he proposes to take to put an end to this anomaly.

:The redistribution is a consequence of the revaluation of all properties at current rental values; values of different types of property in different areas do not all grow at the same rate. If the council thinks that particular industrial assessments in Denton are too low, it can make proposals to increase them.

The hon. Member is, however, mistaken if he thinks that raising rateable values of industrial premises in Denton would make any practical difference to the domestic ratepayer, because it would automatically result in a fall in rate deficiency grants.

The council's letter of protest has been acknowledged. It does not appear to call for an answer.

:Is not the Minister aware that Denton has been discriminated against as compared with surrounding areas, that it is a highly industrialised town and that there is no good reason why industry should pay so much less now proportionately than it did before? Will he please reconsider the matter of the valuation of industry in the area?

As I have tried to explain to the hon. Member, any question of valuation is a matter for a proposal to the valuation officer by the local authority or others concerned. As I have also explained to the hon. Member, however, the effect of any increase in the rateable value for the industrial here-ditaments in the area would not be sufficient to bring the district as a whole out of the rate deficiency grant bracket, and, therefore, the effect on the householders would be negligible.

On a point of order. I give notice that, in view of the unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's reply, I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment at the first opportunity.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs, in view of the report of the Local Government Commission, what are his proposals regarding the future administration of the County Borough of Great Yarmouth.

I must await the Local Government Commission's final proposals before I consider the future administration of Great Yarmouth. So far the Commission has issued draft proposals only and it will be discussing these with the local authorities concerned.

:While thanking my right hon. Friend for that Answer and, of course, realising that that was the fact, may I ask him kindly to note that the ancient Borough of Great Yarmouth is really proud of the administration of the town? The people are fairly satisfied with the administration—although there is always room for improvement—and particularly the administration of education and welfare, especially for old people. I hope, therefore, that my right hon. Friend will consider these matters very carefully when, eventually, he gets the final report.

There will be ample opportunities for these and any other points to be made in the further stages that must ensue before final proposals, let alone any decisions on them, are ready.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs in what way local citizens in Great Yarmouth were consulted by the Local Government Commission for England before it submitted its draft proposals for Lincolnshire and East Anglia.

I am informed by the Local Government Commission that local citizens were at the beginning of the review given the opportunity to make representations. None were received but the Commission did, of course, discuss the future local government of the town with elected representatives.

Really, this procedure is not good enough. I think the House knows that one just cannot get away with it in this way. Does not my right hon. Friend realise that I can find no authority in the area—no county council, no county borough and no rural district council—which wants Yarmouth to lose its county borough status? Could he not possibly be guilty of a slight impropriety and tip the wink to the Commission that if in its final proposals it leaves out the proposal that Yarmouth should lose its county borough status, it would save him a lot of trouble later on?

No one pretends that the procedure of local government review is popular, but no one can deny that there are the most elaborate precautions to take the opinions of everyone in sight.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs the cost to the Exchequer to date of the Lincolnshire and East Anglia general review carried out by the Local Government Commission for England.

As the Commission is engaged on several reviews at the same time I am afraid that it is not possible to identify the cost of this review.

:Would it not be a good thing if an account were kept of the separate operations of the Boundary Commission? Even if the sum involved in these reviews is not in itself tremendous, would it not be better to spend the money on something more beneficial rather than preparing all these reports and maps, cutting snippets off one local authority area and sticking it on another, thus encouraging local authorities of all kinds in territorial ambitions against their neighbours?

:It would be immensely more costly if we were to sit still and do nothing about bringing local government boundaries up to date.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what consultation took place between the Local Government Commission for England and the parish councils of the parishes affected by the draft proposals with respect to the county boundary between Norfolk and the Isle of Ely.

I am informed by the Local Government Commission that these parish councils along with others in the review area, were given the opportunity to make representations at the opening of the review. They did not do so at that stage but they now have a further opportunity to make representations on the draft proposals. They will also be invited to take part in the statutory conference which the Commission will be holding before it prepares its final report.

Is it not a fact that this approach was made to the parish councils a very long time ago and that the consequences of their not replying were not as apparent to them then as they now are? Is. my right hon. Friend aware that if they were allowed to make representations now, almost all of them would do so in a sense contrary to the preliminary proposals of the Commission?

I do not see that the Commission can be blamed for giving good notice of its inquiry. There are ample further stages in which the views of the authorities concerned can be taken.

:Is my right hon. Friend aware that the parishes in the Isle of Ely which join those in Norfolk just over the border were also covered by the East Midlands Review? Can he give some indication of whether he proposes to lay any Orders as a result of the East Midlands review before or not until the East Anglian Report has been considered?

My hon. Friend will realise that that is another question.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs when he expects Professor Allen's Committee to report on the hardship caused to those ratepayers on whom the recent valuation has fallen most severely; and if he will make a statement on their progress.

:The Committee has been asked to report as early as possible; but it has only just held its first meeting and it is too soon to say when the report can be expected.

Will my right hon. Friend keep in mind that, for many households, this remains a very urgent and pressing problem?

Yes, indeed.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that, if the Allen inquiry is to be of any value, it must be thorough and carried out in a proper, scientific way? Does this not mean that, in order to relieve the pressure on the ratepayers, the Government should introduce some kind of standstill until the Committee has been able to do a proper job?

:Certainly the Committee will want, and the Government will wish it, to do a thorough job. But if the inquiry takes too long it may be necessary to ask for an interim report.

Will my right hon. Friend reply to a question I have asked before on this subject? What does he suggest for people living on small fixed incomes who have not the resources to pay 100 per cent. extra on their rates? Does he suggest that they should vacate their homes or refuse to pay rates?

I am suggesting neither. I am asking people to wait the necessary time so that the Government can assess what, if anything, needs to be done.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposal to build a new town on the Erith Marshes, as mentioned in Command Paper No. 1952; and, in view of the concern this has caused to people now living in the area, if he will give an assurance that demolition will be kept to a minimum, and that those disturbed will receive suitable alternative accommodation or adequate compensation.

I understand that the London County Council is examining the plan it originally published. When it has decided what it wants, an application for planning permission will be made to the Kent County Council. Should the scheme involve compulsory purchase, the necessary Order would have to be submitted to me for confirmation, and all affected owners would have the right to object.

I appreciate the anxiety felt by those whose houses look like being affected by the published scheme; and I can certainly assure the hon. Member that both the London County Council and I would want to keep any demolition to a minimum, and that in so far as demolition does take place alternative accommodation for tenants or fair compensation for owner-occupiers will be provided.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that I am grateful for what he has done already, although there is still a long way to go before he tackles the job adequately? Does not he, with every other authority, appreciate that over 700 homes are threatened with demolition in order to provide open spaces for the new town, and that there is a lot of distress? Will it please him to know that the representations so far have worked, up to a point, since it is expected today that an announcement will be made that over 400 previously included will be left alone? But a lot must be done to see that justice is done to all the families concerned.

:I know that the hon. Gentleman realises that this scheme is only at the draft stage and is not by any means final yet.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is aware of the difficulties in disposing of their properties being met by people in the vicinity of the proposed new town on Erith Marshes, when they are required to move to other parts of the country in connection with their employment; and if he will expedite his decision as to the specific properties that will need to be demolished.

No case of difficulty has been brought to my notice. Any such case should be referred to the London County Council which, I am sure, would be ready to consider it sympa- thetically. There are no proposals yet before me.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is aware that approvals for town centre schemes are proceeding slowly; and if he will take action to expedite them.

These schemes often raise difficult and controversial issues affecting the life of a town. They invariably involve a public inquiry and sometimes two. But my right hon. Friend is aware of the need to expedite decisions and will do his utmost to see that things are speeded up.

Can the hon. Gentleman give some indication of how he is to do this? Does he recollect that on 28th May he told me that only 12 approvals had been given in 12 months and that his Annual Report tells us that 178 are outstanding and not likely to be tackled within the period of about two to three years? What action is the hon. Gentleman proposing to take on this?

A Departmental working party on the subject has recommended measures to simplify the presentation and handling of the schemes, and a circular on this is being prepared in consultation with the local authority associations. When plans for comprehensive redevelopment are being considered, the statutory authorities will be urged to concentrate on essentials. It is not so much the form of submission which causes delay but the sheer complexity of redevelopment, involving large numbers of interests which have to be given very careful consideration.

:Will the hon. Gentleman use his influence with the Kent County Council to expedite consideration of the town centre redevelopment scheme submitted by the Orpington Urban District Council?

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that, in addition to the schemes outstanding last year, it is estimated that about 230 schemes will be submitted in the next two years, and that, at the rate at which his Department is giving approval, it will take to the end of the century to deal with them all?

It would be worse to have bad schemes approved speedily than to have good ones which take a longer time.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is aware that each time local authorities increase council house rents they are required to give tenants notice that their tenancy is ended, and that this causes unnecessary anxiety; and if he will introduce legislation to make this notice no longer required.

My right hon. Friend is advised that local authorities can avoid the need to give such a notice by introducing into their conditions of tenancy a clause permitting rent adjustments to be made.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that about two years ago the then Minister, now the Home Secretary, wrote to me agreeing that this remedy was desirable and indicating that the change might be included in wider housing legislation subsequently? As this change has never been made, will the hon. Gentleman now consider making it to avoid giving tenants an unnecessary and additional shock every time the councils are forced to raise their rents because of the Government's high interest charges?

I appreciate that, in certain circumstances, anxiety can be caused by the notice to quit which is sometimes necessary, but I cannot believe that it is beyond the wit of local authorities so to frame that notice as to allay the anxiety. I will certainly consider what further advice might appropriately be given to local authorities on the subject.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what proportion approximately of the 30 per cent. rise in average house prices since 1959 is due to the rise in the price of land.

It would not be safe to base any generalisation about the relationship between housing and land prices on the figure referred to by the hon. Member.

Is the Minister aware that, according to the Building Societies Association, up to 40 per cent. of the price of new houses in London is due to the cost of land? As he apparently does not have the figures, may I ask whether he will set up an inquiry into this? How does the right hon. Gentleman intend to deal with this fantastic rise in the cost of land which, by common knowledge, has taken place since the Government removed all the controls on land prices in 1959?

The Government propose to deal with the general question of land and its price by seeing that more land comes forward to keep pace with the rising building programme.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs on what grounds he has refused loan sanction for three large housing developments in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and why his decision was not communicated to the local authority before being made public by the hon. Members for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North (Mr. R. W. Elliott) and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, East (Mr. Montgomery).

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs why he refused loan sanction to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Corporation for the building of three blocks of flats in the city.

I was not satisfied that the tender which the council wished to accept would give it the best value for money it was in a position to get. I wrote to my hon. Friends informing them of the decision on the evening of the day on which the decision was put into the post to Newcastle.

In view of the reply, and leaving aside the question of planning permission, which is a technical point on which the right hon. Gentleman may have a case, will he confirm that the essential difference between him and the council is one of judgment—his judgment and the judgment of his advisers against that of the council and its advisers—as to whether or not this particular scheme was the best bargain for the city?

On the second point, is the right hon. Gentleman aware that it took seven months to decide this matter and that he sent a reply finally to the Corporation and his two hon. Friends on the same day, according to his letter to me, in the hiatus which occurred between the council election and the calling together of the committees when the town clerk was rightly precluded from showing the letter to any members of the Corporation who have had the legal responsibility for this matter? Does the right hon. Gentleman think it right that they should have to read of this in the newspapers?

Finally, in view of the fact that the case has now been accepted, will the right hon. Gentleman undertake to expedite this matter and do all he can to get it through as quickly as possible so that we get these 300 families rehoused?

First, I made the decision because I thought that local authorities were not getting value for money. Secondly, I make no apology for the time taken. It is a very serious matter for a Minister to use this power in this way. Thirdly, I am not accountable for what happens to letters after I have sent them. Fourthly, I will certainly undertake to expedite any decision called for from me.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the letters which he sent to my hon. Friend the Member for New-castle-upon-Tyne, East (Mr. Montgomery) and myself were not made public until three or four days had elapsed, during which time the local council could, if it wished, have made its letter public? Would my right hon. Friend further agree that the people of Newcastle have the right to be fully and frankly informed on matters which affect them? Is he further aware that the original doubts on this scheme emanated from genuine concern about the disposition of large sums of money? Is he aware, finally, that only a full and frank public inquiry will allay the great local doubts on this matter?

I doubt whether it is for me to make a decision on any of those questions at the moment.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs on what date he made known his decision to refuse the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Corporation loan sanction for its proposal for three large housing schemes.

My decision letter was sent to the council on 22nd May, 1963.

Would my right hon. Friend agree that if there are complaints that the turning down of the loan sanction has held up our housing in Newcastle, it is largely due to the fact that the city council accepted a bad bargain, and if he has no power to institute a public inquiry into the matter, could he not recommend to the city council that it should itself have an inquiry so that the air can be cleared over this subject?

:We must alt regret any delay in the provision of housing, and I hope that any delay will be kept to the absolute minimum. I shall play my part in that.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what reasons led him to refuse confirmation of the compulsory purchase order made by the East Ham Borough Council on No. 59 Shakespeare Crescent, E.12.

The council failed to persuade me that the rent asked was exorbitant.

Is it still the Minister's policy to encourage local authorities to use compulsory purchase where people are liable to be rendered homeless because of exorbitant rents? If so, why does he not apply this principle to a case in which a man earning just over £11 a week is asked to pay £6 16s. rent for a small terraced house about 60 years old?

In answer to the first part of that question, I am certainly anxious that local authorities should use the procedure when homelessness is threatened as a result of exorbitant rents. The facts mentioned by the hon. Member do not exactly correspond with the facts which I have been given.

Can the Minister indicate what he regards as an exorbitant rent? We have had so many instances of his refusing compulsory purchase orders that it is difficult to know whether he regards any rent as exorbitant.

The hon. Member is normally extremely accurate in what he says, but there have been only just about as many refusals as there have been approvals. Most of the compulsory purchase orders that have been made have been withdrawn by the local authorities on their own initiative.

The Minister has not answered my question. Can he give some idea of what he regards as an exorbitant rent?

No. My predecessors and I have always judged each case on its merits.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what steps he is taking to provide accommodation for persons who will be compelled to move on obtaining work in a new district when they lose their present work owing to redundancy.

I look forward to a rising programme of house-building as the best way of helping mobility of labour at the same time as meeting other urgent needs.

:Will the Minister consider doing something about preserving at a reasonable figure the rentals of those houses which are vacated, in consequence of redundancy? Does he realise that as soon as a house becomes vacant, in consequence of his nefarious Act the house itelf is no longer let or is let at an exorbitant rent but in most cases is sold at a very high profit, with the result that there is a scarcity of these houses? What will the Minister do about providing houses at a reasonable rent?

What we will do about providing houses at a reasonable rent has just been announced in the Government's White Paper. As to the effect of reimposing rent control, it is clear on all the evidence, and particularly from Professor Donnison's pamphlet, that rent control leads to nearly all houses which are vacated being sold, whereas if they are taken out of rent control a large part of them will be let.

:Does the Minister realise that miners, shipbuilders, railway-men and others who become redundant have to move out of a controlled house into a decontrolled house at roughly treble their previous rent? Does he realise that the Rent Act, far from being a dead issue, will become a very live issue at the next General Election?

:What the hon. Member will not understand is that if we were to reimpose rent control, the vacated houses to which those people now have a chance to go would not be available for letting at all, but would be sold.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs in view of the new statement of Her Majesty's Government's policy in Command Paper 2050, and the absence in it of any reference to the private landlord, if he will now propose the repeal of the Rent Act.

No, Sir,

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that he has finally buried the last pretence that there is any positive aspect of the Rent Act? Does he not think that some change in legislation is needed in view of his admission of the failure of Government policy in housing?

But for the Rent Act the shortage of rented accommodation would be even more acute than it is. I say that in full acknowledgement of the fact that a number of houses, when they are vacated by their tenants, are sold, but far fewer than there would be if rent control were reimposed.

Will the right hon. Gentleman at least repeal that Section of the Rent Act which enables him at any time to order the decontrol of houses, including those which are now controlled, since it is clear that the private landlord will not play any serious part in providing accommodation for rent? Will he give up any idea of any further decontrol of housing?

:The answer to the first part of the supplementary question is "No, Sir". As for the part played by the private landlord, it is the Opposition who, by threatening to reimpose rent control, have successfully stopped any further private building for rent.

If the Opposition are being successful and the Government's policy is failing, is it not time we had a change of Government?

:It is just because the Opposition take such a negative, retrograde, obstructive attitude that in our White Paper we propose another way of providing housing to rent.

rose—

I feel confident that these topics are a little wide for Question Time.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what criteria the proposed Housing Corporation will apply in making loans to housing societies.

I would not like to tie the Corporation's hands by going into detail in advance of the legislation, but the main tests must be whether individual building schemes would be self-supporting and would provide adequate security for the loan.

If the Minister believes that the Housing Corporation should apply a strictly economic criterion, why cannot the building societies do this? If, on the other hand, the Housing Corporation is to take social considerations into account, why rely on the accident of the formation of housing societies? Surely if the Minister believes that there is a part for a Government Housing Corporation, it must be wholeheartedly social in its objectives, and it must surely be linked with other aspects?

Building societies do not build, but I hope that as a result of all this they will find it infinitely worth while to lend money for this purpose. As for social need, it is just because the Government recognise the need for housing to rent that they are going to set up the Housing Corporation if the House agrees to the legislation.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will introduce legislation to ensure that when a house is to be auctioned a copy of a surveyor's certificate of condition is made available to prospective bidders.

My right hon. Friend is not aware of any widespread need for legislation of this nature.

Does not the hon. Gentleman realise that there is a great possibility that deception can take place at such auctions? Therefore, does he not believe that if the prospective seller supplied a certificate of good repair in respect of the condition of the house, charging a small fee to the prospective bidders, it would prevent deception taking place?

:I do not think it is quite as simple as that. I have no evidence of any real need, but if the hon. Gentleman would like to send me evidence or discuss the matter further, I will certainly look at it and discuss it with my right hon. Friends who would be responsible for any legislation along these lines.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs, what action he proposes to take, in view of his plans for more house building, to ensure that building land is available at reasonable prices.

:The White Paper on Housing outlined the measures that the Government are taking to see that more land is made available for housing—the best way to ensure that prices are reasonable.

:Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that any increase in house building will inevitably increase the price of building land, and that as a consequence millions of wage earners are finding that house ownership is being put even further out of their reach? Why cannot the Government take some action to put an end to this land racket?

The hon. Gentleman's premise is not right if more land is released—which is the Government's intention.