asked the Minister for the Environment the number of grants in the housing sector this year as compared to last year and if he is satisfied with the position.

In the first ten months of this year expenditure on housing grants was 55 per cent up on the corresponding period last year. In that period a total of 9,775 new house grants and 23,158 house improvement grants, excluding special solid fuel grants, were finally paid compared to 10,631 and 14,121 respectively, in the first ten months of 1978. Figures are not yet available for the month of November, but I expect that a further 900 new house and 4,000 improvement grants will have been paid during the month compared to 1,166 and 3,067 in November, 1978. To date this year some 53,000 applications have been received, compared with 41,500 last year and it is obvious from this that grant-aided work is continuing at a highly satisfactory level. It is an unfortunate consequence of the postal dispute that the number of grants paid this year will be less than had been anticipated at the beginning of the year.

17.