asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what is the average monthly council house rent; what is the monthly mortgage repayment on an average house in owner-occupation; and what were the equivalent figures in 1964.

The latest comparable figures are from the Family Expenditure Survey. Council tenants in England and Wales paid an average monthly rebated rent, excluding service charges, of £6 3s. in 1964 and £7 13s. in 1967. Owner occupiers with mortgages made an average gross monthly payment of £10 7s. in 1964 and £14 0s. in 1967. The net monthly mortgage outgoing will have varied according to the mortgagor's tax liability.

Does not this show a phenomenal rise in the cost of housing? Is there any hope of a decrease or even any hope of keeping the cost of housing stable in the near future? Has the Minister any plans for keeping the cost of housing stable?

The chief way in which, from the point of view of the public sector, we can stabilise costs—this would also have an impact on housing costs across the board—would be to enlarge the programmes at present being cut back, chiefly by people in local councils throughout the country who are friends of the hon. Gentleman.

Can my hon. Friend say how much housing subsidies have increased between 1964 and now, and how many more people are now buying their own homes compared with the number then?

Without notice I cannot give a statistical answer, but there has certainly been a major increase in Government help to local authorities and also a rapid growth in the numbers of owner-occupiers during the last few years throughout the country.

If the Government really want to bring down the cost of housing, would they not consider abolishing S.E.T., and bringing interest rates down to what they were before the Government came into power?

That question should be directed where it belongs, and that is to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the exchequer. But if the hon. Gentleman does not like his nose being rubbed in it, I will repeat that the people chiefly concerned in wrecking housing programmes in different parts of the country are the hon. Gentleman's political colleagues in local government throughout the country.

Can my hon. Friend give the House any indication of the amount of income tax remission being paid in respect of these home purchases?

Not offhand. I believe that when I last had occasion, some years ago, to check the figures, the amount was running nationally at something in the region of £80 million a year, but it is much higher than that today.