HOUSING, SCOTLAND (Hansard, 4 February 1949)

§ Mr. Emrys Hughes (South Ayrshire)
My intention is to raise the question not of Jamaica but of housing in Scotland. In the few minutes remaining before the House rises, I would like to ask the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland whether he can give us a statement about recent housing progress in Scotland. We are all very much indebted to the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and to the Secretary of State for Scotland and the official who spent so much time during the vacation going round and seeing the housing problem in Scotland for themselves. I wish to give the Under-Secretary every possible opportunity for using the short time at our disposal, and I should be obliged if he would give us a statement on the investigations he carried out.

§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. J. J. Robertson)
I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising this point even at this late hour. I was asked a Question on Tuesday by the hon. and gallant Member for Pollok (Commander Galbraith) with regard to 2078 the speed with which houses are being produced in Scotland tėday. My difficulty in answering that Question was that it was confiend to permanent houses of the traditional type, and I could not give an accurate statement on the speed at which those houses were produced. I am happy to say, however, the production of houses in general in Scotland during the past year has made remarkable progress.
The traditional type of house, of course, has made a contribution, but I am bound to say that if it had not been for the fact that we have been able to produce nearly half of the total houses in Scotland of a non-traditional type the amount would not have reached the somewhat gratifying figure I am about to give. During 1948 more permanent houses were produced in Scotland than the total for the years 1945, 1946 and 1947, making a total of just over 21,000 permanent houses. In addition, there were 7,500 temporary houses, making a grand total of just on 29,000 houses.
I hope I shall not be regarded as striking a too complacent note, because the matter is one of tremendous urgency and I imagine that the hon. Member, in common with other hon. Members for Scotland, is concerned at the speed with which we can overtake the problem caused by the neglect of the past. The speed with which we are producing houses today compares most favourably with any other country in the world. It is not too much to say that it is doubtful whether any other country in the world is producing houses at the speed with which they are being produced in Scotland. We are able to produce houses at the rate of one every 18 minutes, and this is a result of a combined effort between the local authorities, the building industry in Scotland and the various Government Departments involved.
I wish to assure the House that we have now got over the difficulty of material supplies, and material is coming forward much easier and much more smoothly than in the past. During recent visits which I made along with my colleagues, to the various local authorities there was scarcely a single case of outstanding delay in the supply of materials. This is largely due to the machinery which has been set up during the past year, by means of which we can pinpoint 2079 any difficulty about supplies getting to the site. The consequence has been that as soon as there is likely to be any shortage, my Department is immediately informed, and speedy attention is given to the matter.
There is, however, not such happy news about the labour problem. We have a very great shortage in Scotland in the finishing trades, particularly joiners and plasterers. But for that, I think we could make very much more rapid progress.

§ Mr. Emrys Hughes
Will the right hon. Gentleman give the figures for the trades?

§ Mr. Robertson
Unfortunately this Debate was called at short notice and I have not got the actual figures. Speaking from memory, I think that we are about 600 joiners and about 300 or 400 plasterers short. The figure fluctuates from day to day. There is certainly a very great shortage of plasterers.
This brings me to the point where I am bound to say that it will not be possible to solve this problem by traditional methods of building. We are now considering means by which we can overcome the difficulties of traditional building by introducing what is known as the prefabricated type of house. One of our factories which produced 21 per cent. of the total houses of Scotland since the end of the war, was mainly engaged in the production of temporary houses, and it will turn over to produce during this year something like 4,000 or 5,000 permanent houses. The important point is that that will not make any demand on the existing building force in Scotland and we hope that it will not retard the production of the traditional types of houses.
Another factor about the non-traditional types of houses is the importation 2080 of some thousand Swedish houses to serve the needs of the people in the more remote parts of the Highlands and Islands. That will ease the pressure on the building industry and avoid the necessity to send building material and labour to the more remote parts of the country. I think that there is now, for the first time, the greatest possible co-ordination in the whole machinery of house building in Scotland. The Government Departments work in close co-operation with the local authorities, and recently the Scottish building industries housing group has made a considerable contribution by banding together and working for the production of houses at a speed never before attained.
The picture in Scotland this year and for the future, causes us to be much more optimistic than we had reason to suspect at this time last year. As I have already indicated, last year saw an all-time building record for Scotland. There were produced 21,097 permanent houses, 7,591 temporary houses and in addition something between 3,000 and 4,000 houses were converted, so that a total of between 32,000 and 33,000 families were re-housed. I am satisfied that this year will see an improvement even on those figures. I assure the hon. Member and those who are concerned with the needs of Scotland that every effort will be made by my right hon. Friend, by myself, our Department, the local authorities and the industry, on whose behalf I think I can speak, to see that everything possible is done to speed up the rate of progress during the coming year.