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You and Yours: Rent Controls, Shopping Habits, HRT Shortages

Rent Controls, Shopping Habits, HRT Shortages

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Rent Controls, Shopping Habits, HRT Shortages

Do rent controls work? Grocery shopping habits. HRT supply shortages.

Could rent controls stop tenants being priced out of the market? Has the way you shop for groceries changed? Why demand for HRT is still outstripping supply.

We ask if rent controls could be the answer to some of the massive hikes tenants are seeing right now. In the past year, rents for new lets have risen by more than 11 percent. In London, they've climbed by more than 15 percent.  The Welsh Government has just opened a consultation on how to make renting fairer. In Scotland, the Government can impose local rent caps in areas where market rents are rising too quickly. In England, Bristol City Council says it wants to bring in rent controls. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says he wants to cap rents too.  We speak to Timothy Douglas from Propertymark. He represents letting agents. We also hear from Councillor Tom Renhard from Bristol City Council. He's their Cabinet member for Housing Delivery and Homes and a Labour councillor. 

We examine how food inflation is affecting the way people now shop. In April, food prices rose by more than 19 percent according to official figures from the ONS. We hear from people in Manchester about how they're shopping for groceries. We also speak to Lisa Webb, a consumer expert from Which.

We report on continued problems with the supply of hormone replacement therapy drugs or HRT. One in seven middle-aged women in England now takes HRT to help alleviate symptoms of the menopause. Since April women, who have to pay for their prescriptions, have been able to get HRT much more cheaply, using pre-payment certificates that bring the costs right down to less than £20 a year. The Government says it wants to help make HRT more widely available. We speak to Dr Paula Briggs, Chair of the British Menopause Society, and Thorrun Govind, chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's England Board.


Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes

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