§ 8. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will give an assurance that steel supplies are adequate to meet the certificates that he issues enabling local authorities to purchase steel for housing purposes.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanI know there have been difficulties in obtaining building steel, but my right hon. Friend the Minister of Supply is making every effort to adjust production to see that the right kind of steel is available.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonIs the Minister aware, to quote one example, that work on a housing site at Knights Hill, Norwood, was held up for eight months because it took all that time, after many protests and letters to his Department, to get the steel required? Is there any relation between the certificates which the right hon. Gentleman seems to be issuing in lavish quantities and the actual steel which local authorities can get hold of?
§ Mr. MacmillanThe hon. and gallant Gentleman does not seem to appreciate that the term "steel" does not define a uniform commodity. What we have been trying to do is to increase total building by getting a larger amount of reinforcement rods and pre-stressed wire, and that requires an alteration in the pattern in the steel industry which we are pressing forward and which is making, I think, remarkably good progress.