§ 24. Mr. Awberyasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will, in cases where the proposed number of houses to be built by a local authority is less than that of the previous year, ask to be supplied with the reasons for the suspension or modification of their housing programmes in order to ascertain whether it is as a result of financial restrictions, high interest charges, or a reduction in the demand for houses; and if he will lay such information before the House.
§ Mr. H. BrookeNo, Sir.
§ Mr. AwberyDoes not the Minister think it desirable that when the statistics regarding the building of houses are sent to him, he should ask the local authorities the reason for the variation, where a variation takes place, so that we should have the full information provided?
§ Mr. BrookeI am closely in touch with the situation and, so far as hard fact is concerned, in the first four months of this year more local authority houses were built than in the corresponding period of 1950 or 1951, due mainly, I presume, to there being a Conservative Government.
§ Mr. MitchisonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the number of local authority houses under construction has been falling steadily since 1953? When will he publish the figures of local authority building programmes which his predecessor in the summer of last year hoped to publish last autumn?
§ Mr. BrookeI think we have actually overtaken those figures. Regular monthly figures are published of the houses which are under construction and those for which tenders have been accepted.