asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what consultations he has had with local authorities, the Commission for New Towns and other bodies about the Report on the Ownership and Management of Housing in New Towns; and whether he will make a statement about the Government's policy on the recommendations contained in that Report.

We have had discussions with the Commission for New Towns and Development Corporations about the Report's recommendations for increasing opportunities for owner-occupation in new towns. We will also talk with the local authorities. I am not yet in a position to make a further statement on the future of new town assets.

If the Government accept the idea that tenants of new town houses should be permitted to purchase their own homes, why are the Government making it so difficult for this to take place, both by not allowing or by cutting right down local authority housing loans and by charging the full market value for houses when the tenants have been in them for a considerable number of years?

I am very well aware of the difficulties mentioned in the first part of the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question. The answer to the second part is that the arrangement has been that if a house in the circumstances to which he referred is to go back to the authority who have reserved the right to repurchase, then it goes back at a figure which has been agreed between the tenant and the authority.