Rent Arrears

Oral Answers to Questions — Environment – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 16 March 1988.

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Photo of Mr Gerald Bowden Mr Gerald Bowden , Dulwich 12:00, 16 March 1988

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will meet councillors of the London borough of Southwark to discuss the level of rent arrears in the borough.

Photo of Mrs Marion Roe Mrs Marion Roe , Broxbourne

This would serve no useful purpose. The Government have already offered advice and assistance to the London borough of Southwark to help it to reduce rent arrears from their present scandalous level of £14 million — by far the worst in the country. The responsibility is that of Southwark.

Photo of Mr Gerald Bowden Mr Gerald Bowden , Dulwich

I am interested in my hon. Friend's reply. The figure that I had heard mentioned was £30 million in relation to rent and possibly rate arrears. Can she say what this represents in cost per household? Has the time not come to put commissioners in to do the job which Southwark council is unable or unwilling to do itself?

Photo of Mrs Marion Roe Mrs Marion Roe , Broxbourne

I know that Southwark's performance on rate arrears is equally deplorable. The arrears stand at nearly £14 million, bringing the total of all arrears, as my hon. Friend has said, to £28·5 million. That is equal to £462 per tenant household. In effect, Southwark's hard-pressed ratepayers are subsidising the inefficiency of the borough's housing department to the tune of nearly £19 million. That is an appalling indictment. I have noted what my hon. Friend has said.