REPAIR OF WAR DAMAGE BILL. (Hansard, 1 July 1941)

§ The Minister of Health (Mr. Ernest Brown)
I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time"
Both the Bills whose Second Readings I have to move to-day are agreed Bills, and both originated with the local authorities. Little explanation is needed, but I would say just a few words about this Bill. The essence of the repair of war damage to small houses is speed, and immediately we began to work out the plans which had been concerted—and plans had been concerted and stocks of materials assembled—to deal with the terrific problems involved in the heavy bombing of last winter and this spring, we found that certain of the provisions of the Housing (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1939, had been drawn too narrowly. The local authorities had doubts about them, called our attention to them, and were told to go on and ignore the technicalities, to get the work done with all speed; and the Government pledged themselves to resolve their doubts and regularise the procedure. That is the real meaning of the main part of this Bill. It will remove doubts which have arisen through the use of the word "temporary" in the original Act; and the Act could be construed so that local authorities were not quite sure whether or not they could repair a house that was empty. Those are only illustrations of a number of points that I could give.
More than that, certain conditions were laid down in the original Act which meant a double approach to the owners of the property and which in some cases meant a delay of more than a fortnight, when as a matter of fact all those who are faced with the conditions know that the first aim in first-aid repairs must be the quickest method of getting the house made proof against wind and weather. It is for that purpose that we have brought forward this Bill. Under Clause 8any doubts or irregularities which might possibly have arisen are resolved as from the passing of the original Act in 1939. We also overlooked in the original Act 1303 the necessity of enabling loans to be made to local authorities to repair their own houses, and this point is also covered in this Bill. I could talk for a long time on the subject of the repair of war damage. The full story cannot be told in war-time, because it would give information to the enemy, but when the whole story can be told of the way in which the local authorities and those who work with them, the emergency repair squads, have tackled this terrific problem, it will turn out to be one of the very finest efforts that have been made in the whole of the war.

§ Mr. James Griffiths (Llanelly)
I will not keep the House more than a moment or two. May I join the right hon. Gentleman in paying a tribute to those local authorities which have found themselves faced with this enormous task in circumstances of the greatest difficulty? I think the Minister will agree that this job has been more successfully accomplished by the authorities which have gone on with the job first and afterwards tried to find out whether they were right or wrong. Certain authorities did act very quickly, and the Minister and his Department have supported them afterwards. It was discovered that there were handicaps in the way of doing the job quickly. These have now been removed. As the Minister said, speed is the essence of the matter. Those authorities which have got on with the work very quickly deserve the support of this House. All those who have experienced it know how much is gained by getting people back to their homes quickly, after an event of this kind. Therefore, I welcome the Bill.
May I make a small suggestion? It was put to me by people who have had experience of these circumstances. The provision of this Bill is that authority is given to the local authority to get on with first-aid repairs without any formality. A large number of people want to do that for themselves without even waiting for the local authority. I think we should encourage them. Take the case of a man, the roof of whose house, and the windows, have gone, and who would like to carry out the first-aid repairs himself. The suggestion has been made to me as to whether it is possible, either by Amendment of this Bill on the Committee stage, or by administrative action, to allow the occu- 1304 pier to do first-aid repairs to the house— to enable him to go to the local authority's store and get what he wants and trust him, though there will have to be some financial limit to the procedure. Would it be possible for a man to say, "I want something to cover the roof; I do not want you to send a man; give me the stuff, and I will do the job myself"? The best thing in that kind of situation is to find something for people to do. It is the best tonic for morale. It is the experience of those who have known these terrible blitzes that there is a large number of occupiers who would like to do a job of that kind and who could do it. I hope the Minister will consider the provision I have suggested, or something better.

§ Mr. E. Brown
It is being done now.

§ Mr. J. Griffiths
I am very glad that that has been announced.

§ Mr. George Griffiths (Hemsworth)
Shortage of material brings a good deal of trouble to local authorities, and I would like the Minister somehow or other to enable sufficient material to be available for these repairs.

§ Mr. E. Brown
We have the very highest priority for this, and we do out utmost. We did encourage local authorities before the war to assemble large stocks of materials. In addition to that, at our suggestion, the Ministry of Works and Buildings have provided large dumps in various parts of the country. If there is any difficulty in a particular case, I hope the hon. Member will let me know. We have the highest priority, subject to a particular material being available at a particular place at a particular time.