§ 24. Lieut.-Colonel Sir Thomas Mooreasked the Minister of Health if he will now give an estimate of the date by which he will have completed the erection of four million houses.
19. Mr. Ivor Thomasasked the Minister of Health at what dates he expects to have provided under the postwar housing programme 750,000 new permanent houses, and a total of 750,000 new permanent houses and temporary houses taken together, respectively.
§ Mr. BevanThe course of the housing programme is fully indicated by the facts and figures in the published Housing Returns.
§ Sir T. MooreI do not think the right hon. Gentleman has answered the right Question.
§ Mr. BevanThe housing programme is indicated in the Housing Returns which show, month by month, the number of permanent houses under construction. If we continue to build houses at that rate it is a simple arithmetical calculation to say how many will be built in a certain time.
§ Sir T. MooreForgive me, Mr. Speaker, but there is something odd about this business. Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that the Foreign Secretary stated, in 1945, that four to five million houses would be built in practically no time? As four years have passed since then, does not this require some explanation?