§ 32. Sir William Davisonasked the Minister of Works what steps are being taken to tighten up the supervision of men engaged in war damage repair work, of which particulars have been sent to him, in view of the volume of complaint from members of the public as to the lack of energy shown and unnecessary delays in carrying out such repairs.
§ The Minister of Works (Mr. Duncan Sandys)I have inquired into this particular case and am satisfied that there is justification for my hon. Friend's complaint. The contractor concerned has been warned that the standard of his supervision must improve.
§ Sir W. DavisonIs my right hon. Friend aware that I am getting quantities of letters from all sources as to dilatoriness and lack of supervision and complaints of work taking weeks which could be done in a few days?
§ Mr. SandysIn this case, which is not a typical one, the supervision was weak. If a particular contractor cannot control his labour efficiently, it may be necessary to reduce the number of men allotted to him.
§ Sir Granville GibsonIs my right hon. Friend aware that I received this morning from a trustworthy source information to the effect that last June a flat was damaged in London by bombing and that for 1444 the last two weeks or more there have been three men working on it, and, when the tenant remonstrated with them for not working and passing their time sitting round the electric fire, the reply was that they had no materials to get on with? What is he going to do about it?
§ Mr. SandysI cannot answer about that particular case. By and large there are no serious hold-ups of any kind due to shortage of material at the moment. There may, of course, be exceptional circumstances in the case in question. The fact that the damage occurred last June is not significant. All last summer's damage is being tackled as a complete programme this winter. It may well be that some houses damaged in September will be repaired before others damaged in June.