LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOAED FOE SCOTLAND.—Class II. (Hansard, 9 August 1916)

§ Mr. HOGGE
May we know on this Vote what position the Housing Commissioners' Report is in, and when we are going to get it? It has been promised now for a very long time. I do not know what amount of work has been done upon it. It is time we had the Report after all these years.

§ Mr. TENNANT
There was a Commission sitting, but its activities were suspended after the outbreak of the War; at any rate, they are suspended now and have been for a considerable period. Therefore you cannot expect a Report until they resume their sittings. Of course it is an important question, and I should like my hon. Friend to recognise that we are at war.

§ Mr. WATSON
It was understood that this Report was actually in draft already, and that it would not require very much extra labour to get it issued. I can quite understand that some members of the Commission may not be very readily available, but the matter is an urgent one, and we ought to have it in our hands for public information as soon as possible, and certainly before the end of the War, because the housing question is a very pressing question in Scotland, especially in the mining districts. I do not ask for any assurance to-night, but I would ask the right hon. Gentleman to look into this matter and see if it is not possible to get an interim Report. I believe it is in draft, and there would not be very much difficulty. At any rate, the matter is urgent, though I quite understand the difficulty.

§ Mr. TENNANT
In reply to my hon. Friend, I would say that he has been misinformed when he says that the Report is in draft. It is not in draft, and therefore it is not possible to accede to his request that it should be issued before the end of the War. I quite recognise that this is a matter of urgency, but I do not think it is possible to get the Report issued before the end of the War.

§ Mr. PRINGLE
Under the sub-head F, the annuity under the Housing Act, 1914, payable to National Debt Commissioners in respect of advances under the Housing Act for the Rosyth Housing Scheme, is £1,228. This appears to be the only housing scheme referred to in the Vote. I should be glad if my right hon. Friend would say whether his Department and the Local Government Board are exercising any supervision and control over any of the schemes which are at present being put into operation in regard to the housing of munition workers in some of the places where workers were brought together in large numbers for the first time during last year. I know, of course, that certain schemes have been put into operation by the local authorities, 1191 in conjunction with the Ministry of Munitions. It is important that the Local Government Board should exercise supervision over any such schemes, and should see that they are carried out in an efficient way, and in a manner which will help to promote the health of the people who are being housed. I do not know to what extent the Local Government Board has been called into consultation with a view to the preparation of these schemes. I hope, however, that the Department has been called into consultation, and that anything that is being done, though it may be done hastily, is being carried through on sound lines, so that we may not see, as the result of these hasty schemes, the creation of new large areas of slums which will come into being in a few years' time.

§ Mr. TENNANT
Yes, I can assure my hon. Friend that the Local Government Board has been consulted and is exercising its supervision over nearly all these schemes—in fact, so far as I know, over all of them. Its assistance and advice have been sought and have been of the greatest value. I cannot be sufficiently grateful to the Local Government Board for the supervision which it has exercised, and I am sure it has been of the utmost benefit to these new communities which have been credited.