§ 15. Mr. Piratinasked the Minister of Health whether the 1947 targets of 240,000 permanent and 60,000 temporary houses have been broken down to the various regions; if he will state the allocations of these targets to the different regions; and, in making these allocations for London, whether consideration was given to the character of London's housing problem in view of the amount of bombing that London received.
§ Mr. J. EdwardsAs regards the first parts of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to paragraph 25 of the White Paper on the Housing Programme for 1947. The answer to the last part is "Yes, Sir."
§ Mr. PiratinCan the Minister give the information to the House through the OFFICIAL REPORT and, in the course of giving it, could he say what was the basis upon which the figures for London were provided, because they are about one-seventh of the total? Is he satisfied that that corresponds to the London population and London's needs?
§ Mr. EdwardsIn reply to the first part of the supplementary, it is quite impossible to give the detailed local distribution of the programme until we have all the returns, which will not be until towards the end of April. In regard to the second part, I ask the hon. Gentleman to appreciate that in London, very particularly, a substantial proportion of the labour force is employed on the repair of war damaged dwellings.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithWould the Minister say whether any real importance any longer attaches to the total target figure of 240,000 houses?