Tony Blair told the Commons that the Comprehensive Spending Review on Monday would include measures to increase the supply of housing for wokers such as teachers, nurses and social workers.

The continued rise in house prices is hampering efforts to recruit these key workers in the South East.

In the Comprehensive Spending Review government departments are told how much they will have to spend over the next three years.

According to an official report recently the cost of housing is leading to serious recruitment problems.

The Local Government Association (LGA) report highlighted problems such as a 167% increase in teacher vacancies in Surrey between January 2000 and January 2001.

The average house price for Greater London is now £214,257 and £155,080 in the South East.