§ 10. Mr. Hurdasked the Minister of Works when he expects to begin and to complete the erection of the 40 prefabricated temporary houses at Benfield Road, Wokingham, which his Department agreed last August to build for Wokingham Corporation.
§ Mr. TomlinsonThe local authority in this case have asked my Department to undertake on their behalf the preliminary work of constructing the roads and sewers, and supplied the necessary information for this purpose early in January. Since then bills of quantities have been prepared and tenders obtained. Provided that tender prices are satisfactory, work will start soon, but it is too early yet to predict when the site development and house erection work will be completed.
§ Mr. TomlinsonYou cannot erect houses until there is some land prepared on which to erect them.
§ 11. Mr. Hurdasked the Minister of Works if he will state the amount of the agency charge made to local authorities when his Department undertakes the erection of temporary houses on their behalf.
§ Mr. TomlinsonAll expenses incurred by my Department on erecting temporary houses are chargeable to the Temporary Housing Fund and no charge, agency or otherwise, is made by my Department to local authorities.
§ 17. Mr. Garry Allighanasked the Minister of Works how many prefabricated houses have been erected but cannot be inhabited owing to the absence of internal fittings.
§ Mr. TomlinsonOn 16th February, the hulls of 28,818 temporary houses had been erected, and 14,661 of these had been completed and made available for occupation. The balance were having internal fittings installed. In some cases this process has undoubtedly been delayed by the shortage of certain fittings, but it is not possible to say how many. Every effort is being made to expedite deliveries generally.
§ Mr. Allighanis the right hon. Gentleman aware that at Gravesend all the prefabricated houses that have been supplied by his Ministry have been erected but cannot be occupied for want of fittings? Can he tell the House what steps his Ministry take to co-ordinate activity and to inform the Ministry of Supply about the houses as they are supplied, so that they can be equipped with essential fittings?
§ Mr. TomlinsonIt would require a fairly long speech to explain all we attempt to do in order to co-ordinate the different activities.
§ Captain CrookshankIt would not take such a long speech to say all that they have succeeded in doing, though.
§ Mr. TomlinsonI think if the right hon. and gallant Gentleman will read in tomorrow morning's Official Report the first part of the answer, he will find we have succeeded in far more cases than we have failed.