§ 3. Mr. Henderson Stewartasked the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland how many permanent and temporary houses, respectively, it is intended to have built in Scotland during the next 12 months; and how many builders will be released under Class B for work in Scotland during the same period.
Mr. ChapmanThe aim is to have 20,000 permanent houses built or building and some 20,000 temporary houses completed in the period in question. My Noble Friend is informed by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service that it is proposed to release some 60,000 building operatives 653 in Class B in the first year, but that it is not possible to say in what proportion Scotland will share in this release.
Mr. StewartIs my hon. Friend conveying to the House that he is satisfied that with the labour likely to be available anything comparable to this number of houses will be built?
Mr. ChapmanThat is the position at the present moment. My hon. Friend may take it that we shall press for all the help we can get from building labour and other sources.
§ 4. Mr. Henderson Stewartasked the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, what limitations are now imposed on the amount of expenditure to be incurred in private house repairs and alterations; and if any changes are contemplated.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works (Mr. Manninģham-Buller)I have been asked to reply. As the answer is long I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate a statement in the Official Report.
§ Following is the statement:
§ Under the present Defence Regulation 56A, up to £100 may be spent without licence on building work on any property in any period of twelve months except in London and in certain areas of the Home Counties where the limit is £10.
§ In the course of the Debate on 22nd March, 1945, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health announced that it was proposed to extend the limit of £10 to the whole of Great Britain. Following upon this announcement, consultations have taken place with the national representatives of the building industry and of the professional bodies concerned and with the local authorities, while a review has also been made of the practical experience of the operation of the £10 limit gained during the last few months in London and the Home Counties. As a result it has been decided to make a number of important modifications before applying the £10 limit to the rest of the country.
654§ These changes are primarily designed to ease the task of the local authority staffs who will have to assist in administering the scheme and to relax some of the more irksome restrictions upon the freedom of action of both householders and builders.
§ The main features of the modified licensing system will be as follows:
- (1) The new scheme will come into force throughout Great Britain, including London and the Home Counties, as from 1st August and will cover the period from that date to 31st January, 1946.
- (2) During this six months' period, building work costing up to £10 may be undertaken without a licence (i.e., at the rate of £20 per annum).
- (3) In addition, £2 worth of work may be undertaken in each calendar month from August to January. (This monthly allowance, which is not cumulative, has been introduced primarily to avoid applications for licences for trifling repairs.)
- (4) Work of an emergency character (e.g., the repair of burst pipes) may, of course, be undertaken without waiting for a licence.
- (5) In reckoning the amount of work which may be undertaken without a licence (i.e., up to £10 during the period plus the additional £2 allowance in any one calendar month) no account will be taken of:
- (a) Work which has been licensed or authorised by a Government Department.
- (b) Work undertaken by a local authority (e.g., bomb damage repair), or licensed by a local authority.
- (6) Where work is carried out by an owner or occupier on premises occupied or to be occupied wholly or partly as a private dwelling, with his own personal labour, or with unpaid labour, the value of these services and the cost of any materials used by this labour will be disregarded.
- (7) The £10 and £2 allowances will be applied to all separate dwellings individually. (Hitherto the great majority of blocks of flats and tenements were reckoned as one unit.)
- (8) Owners of property for which the £10 and £2 allowances would be totally inadequate, may obtain maintenance licences from local authorities to cover specified categories of maintenance and repairs where the cost does not exceed £100 over a period of twelve months. Above that amount Regional Licensing Officers will continue to issue annual maintenance licences.
- (9) In cases where a local authority issues a Statutory Notice on grounds of public health, danger, etc., a licence will automatically be granted.
- (10) The Minister of Works will delegate to local authorities the power to issue licences on his behalf in respect of work costing up to £100.
- (11) Licences for amounts above £100 will be granted by the Ministry of Works Regional Licensing Officers. Where an owner or occupier wishes to build, repair, adapt or convert a dwelling house, at a cost exceeding £100, the local authority will, as hitherto, consider whether the work in question is essential and, if so, will grant a "Certificate of Essentiality." On receipt of such a certificate, the Regional Licensing Officer of the Ministry of Works will normally grant a licence.
- (12) The powers thus given to local authorities of issuing licences for all works costing up to £100 and of issuing Certificates of Essentiality for housing work above that sum, will enable the local authorities to decide for them selves, in the light of local needs, the respective priorities to be accorded to various types of building work, and to ensure that their housing programmes are not prejudiced by the carrying out of less essential building projects.
§ These new arrangements will be subject to periodical review.
§ 5. Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland how many houses have been built in Scotland since 31st December, 1944; and what steps he is taking to secure further supplies of materials, the release of skilled men from the Forces for the building industry and generally to expedite the building of houses which are so urgently needed in Scotland.
Mr. ChapmanThe number of houses completed by local authorities in Scotland since 31st December, 1944, is 459. With regard to the second part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the White Paper on Housing issued in March which explains the steps taken for carrying the Government's housing policy into effect, and to the statement made on the 16th May by the then Minister of Labour about the release of building trade operatives from the Forces.
§ Mr. KirkwoodArising from that reply, which is not very encouraging—seeing that we have now got an earl as Secretary of State for Scotland I expected something outstanding—I wish to ask the Under-secretary if he is aware that in Scotland to-day there are thousands of mothers whose sons have been out fighting and conquering for us in every part of the world, and that these men are coming home, and their mothers and sisters have nowhere for them to lay their heads? What are the Government going to do in a situation like that?
Mr. ChapmanIt is true that the soldiers are away fighting. They have been fighting Hitler, and it is Hitler who has prevented those houses being built. Owing to war conditions, housing would have been held up whoever had been in power. Every step at our disposal is being taken to create the maximum number of houses.
§ Mr. WoodburnIs the hon. Gentleman aware that building trade employers have been making public statements in Scotland that they have the material and the labour available, and that regulations are preventing them from getting on with building? Could he have that matter looked into?
Mr. ChapmanI will certainly have that looked into, but if the regulations exist they have been in existence for some time.
§ Sir Herbert WilliamsWhy is it expected that the Noble Lord should do in a week, what his predecessor failed to do in five years?
§ Mr. SloanWill the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that Scotland is the worst-housed country in Europe other than Spain and Portugal? Is he prepared to produce a scheme which will produce the houses?
§ Mr. KirkwoodThe majority of Members here heard the Prime Minister saying last night that we must provide homes for the soldiers when they come back. I am here giving the Government an opportunity of providing those homes£
§ Mr. KirkwoodYou are shouting "speech" because: you cannot deliver one.