Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Williams and Gerry Sutcliffe

Monday 20th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford South) (Lab)]

7. What assessment he has made of the incidence of damp in social housing.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)]

The latest data that we have from the English housing survey, from 2011-12, indicate that 6.9% of local authority homes and 3.7% of housing association homes had some problem with damp in that year. As a consequence of the 2011-15 spending review, the coalition is investing £2.1 billion to bring social homes up to the decent homes standard.

[Stephen Williams]

Presumably the hon. Lady is referring to a survey of 30 social landlords conducted by the Direct Works Forum, which represents those who carry out repair work of this kind. Given that there are 336 local housing authorities, and many hundreds more housing associations, we shall have to wait and see whether that survey is representative.

Throughout the Government, we understand that fuel poverty is an issue. Both my Department and the Department of Energy and Climate Change are doing their best to drive down household energy costs, and we recently announced that we would reduce energy costs by £50 per household.

[Mr Sutcliffe]

Is not one of the problems the bedroom tax, which has meant that people are in arrears and have to choose between paying their rent and paying their energy bills? In Bradford, 2,100 families are suffering because the tax means that they cannot pay their energy bills.

[Stephen Williams]

People may have damp in their homes for a great many reasons, but one of the reasons that have been brought to my attention is the amount that has been spent on bringing homes up to a decent standard. The last Government spent a lot of money on that, and the present Government have spent £2.1 billion on it. Paradoxically, the fact that homes are so well insulated can contribute to a dampness problem. Obviously some households also have income problems, but the Government are doing their best to reduce the cost of living per household by lowering council tax and energy bills, and by putting more money into people’s pockets through income tax changes.