According to government Housing Minister, John Healey, the UK has an acute need for more family sized council homes to be built.

Mr Healey has announced that 40% of all new social housing must have at least three or four bedrooms and contain adequate proportions for a family. At present, the number of three and four bedroom council houses amounts to only around 30% of the UK's social housing stock.

The government has promised ''a new style of social housing - family homes designed to high energy efficiency standards''. This push for greener homes coincides with the government's plans for more eco homes to be built in the upcoming years, utilising solar power and producing a low carbon footprint.

Healey's comments fall in the wake of the largest council house building programme for nearly two decades already underway, with an extra £122m to be split around the UK's councils. This project will not only create approximately 4,000 homes for 8,000 people, but it will also create social housing jobs in a stabilising building sector.

For the first time, Mr Healey has required all councils receiving government funds to offer apprenticeships and local job recruitment schemes - creating thousands of jobs, including apprenticeship places.

Mr Healey's recent moves are part of a large government investment in building affordable rented homes. Since Healey became Housing Minister last June, he has released through the Homes and Communities Agency £2.4bn for new council and housing association homes.

He stated on a recent visit to the Thames View Estate in Barking, "More affordable homes for rent are needed in every part of the country. We're using the power of public investment to help economic growth by building the homes we need and creating jobs and skills for the future. And we must get the most for every taxpayer's pound, so I am requiring all councils getting this government money to offer new jobs and apprenticeships to local people''.