Mr. Eugene Cummins:

Before I invite my colleagues to respond, a few significant questions have been posed and Deputy Canney broached the matter as well. There is a significant amount of land available to local authorities that we have bought over the years. As the communities that I listed in my presentation are sustainable, it is neither possible nor desirable to build out large tracts of land for social housing only. History shows that a good social mix is needed. We must be very careful, therefore, that we do not go down that road again. It is very tempting to obtain 40 acres of land and build social houses on it but that would create untold difficulties. It is unfair, inequitable and has caused huge problems in the past. When we are building out lands, especially in rural areas - not so much in cities - we need to be careful that there is a good mix of properties available. As referenced in our document, we must have full regard for the concept of sustainable communities.

It must be remembered - Deputy Coppinger also referred to this - that local authorities are not developers. We are developers in some instances but in the strict sense of the word, we are not. If we were to build out what we could as soon as possible, it would improve the situation but would not solve the problem. There were over 20,000 properties available after the collapse and we bought most of them. In other words, we purchased most of the properties that were available to buy and that represented good value for money. The properties that are left are either not in areas of need or are unsuitable for other reasons - perhaps they were not properly built or there are other issues with them. We have had due regard to all of that and we have purchased most of the properties in question.

I call on Mr. Coman to deal with the questions relating to HAP.