HOUSING (EMERGENCY POWERS) BILL. (Hansard, 1 September 1939)

§ Mr. Elliot
I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
This is the second of the group of Bills to which I have referred. It has not only been the subject of a Circular which has been sent round to all the local authorities but has been published in the Press and, consequently, Members are well acquainted with the general lines of it. Roughly speaking, there is a general duty upon local authorities now to keep in review the supply of working-class houses and the Bill extends the duty not only to see that there are sufficient houses, but that they are kept habitable. This Bill therefore provides for emergency repairs and also provides for the financing of 196 those emergency repairs, the financing of them being on the basis that the local authority may go ahead and carry out the work unless the owner is able to do so, that the local authority is advanced the money by the Ministry, that the local authority is not asked to pay any interest on the money or to repay any part of the capital until after the end of the war, and that no demand for repayment is made upon the person at whose expense, so to speak, the repair is being done. But that repair is a charge against the property and is to be repaid at the end of the emergency. Those are the general lines of the Bill, which have been explained by Circular to those responsible, and generally welcomed. I hope it will meet with the approval of the House.

§ Mr. Silkin
The right hon. Gentleman has explained the Bill in a perfectly satisfactory way and everyone will have sympathy with its objects, but I would like to put one or two questions on points which are certainly not clear. For instance, the right hon. Gentleman, in dealing with the financial Clauses, explained that local authorities would be advanced money without interest for the purpose of carrying out their duties under the Bill and they would be under no obligation to repay the capital until after the war, but I fail to see that provided for anywhere in the Bill. If the right hon. Gentleman can give an assurance that that will be the case and that that is provided for, I am certain the local authorities will accept this as being satisfactory. However, if one looks at Clause 3 of the Bill, one finds that is not so, and that the Minister leaves himself power not only to demand interest but also to demand repayment of the capital during the period of war. I should like to have some further assurances from the right hon. Gentleman on that point.
I want also to raise a point which refers particularly to London. Under Clause 2, the position is that both the London County Council and the Metropolitan Boroughs are authorities for carrying out the provisions of the Bill. That is very confusing. It is unfortunate that in a period such as this there should be divided responsibility. I suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that he should make up his mind which is to be the authority 197 for carrying out the provisions of the Bill in London and put the responsibility upon the particular authority. In normal times, it does not matter if prolonged negotiations go on between the London County Council and the 28 Metropolitan Boroughs as to which of them shall do the job, but in times such as these, when it may be urgently necessary to provide housing accommodation for people whose homes have been destroyed, it is really important that the duty should be perfectly clear and unequivocal, and that the body on whom the responsibility is placed should know exactly what are its duties. I hope the Minister will be able to give a satisfactory assurance on these points.

§ Mr. Elliot
I think I can do as the hon. Member for Peckham (Mr. Silkin) asks. If he will look at the proviso to Clause 2, he will see that it states: Provided that no demand for expenses incurred by a local authority under this Act shall be made under Sub-section (3) of the said Section ten until the end of the period of the present emergency. That is also mentioned in the circular which was sent to the local authorities. In paragraph 5 of the Circular, it was stated that any works carried out by a local authority under these provisions would be registered as a charge on the premises, but there would be no right of recovery until the end of the emergency. The local authority would obtain the necessary money to pay for repairs by means of loans advanced by Ministers on terms and conditions approved by the Treasury, and there would normally be no repayment of interest charges in respect of these loans until the end of the emergency. As for the other point which the hon. Member raised, the fact is that both the London County Council and the boroughs have certain housing powers, and I think it is very desirable that we should not start a row between the boroughs and the county at the present time, because great as may be the struggle into which we are advancing, I do not wish to find it complicated by an even greater struggle between the local authorities of this country.

§ Mr. Silkin
I was not intending to start a struggle at this time. I only want to make clear that the London County Council are not asking for these powers and would gladly surrender them, but I 198 think it is important that at some later date the Minister should take powers for himself to make quite clear as to which are the authorities concerned. I do not ask him to settle the matter now.