§ 9. Mr. Willisasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether it is intended to continue the programme of nontraditional house building in Scotland.
§ Mr. T. FraserIt is intended that nontraditional houses should still be available. The arrangement under which the Department of Health for Scotland approved programmes of non-traditional house building in Scotland ceased at 31st December, 1947, when the additional subsidy for this type of house became no longer available. In future, local authorities will, however, be free to select non-traditional houses where the price is comparable with traditional building.
§ Mr. WillisIs my hon. Friend aware that unless he gives some definite indication of the policy to be pursued, in terms of numbers of houses to be built of a specific kind, there will be quite a large amount of unemployment in the firms at present engaged in this work?
§ Mr. FraserI could hardly accept that. The Act of 1946 provided that until the end of 1947 an additional subsidy should be given in respect of non-traditional type houses, because it was generally appreciated then that the cost of building up the work on and production of those houses would be considerable. But now, if the claims made for the non-traditional type house are to be justified, surely they can only be justified in their being able to compete on an equal basis with the traditional type house. I should have thought that local authorities should be 1978 free to select traditional or non-traditional type houses, having regard to the cost.
§ Mr. Joynson-HicksWould not the hon. Gentleman agree that it would be better if the Government returned to their traditional policy now?