§ 28. Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister of Welsh Affairs what are the provisional figures for April and May of this year for the average tender price per square foot for local authority houses.
§ Mr. CorfieldThe average price pea-square foot of three-bedroom houses in tenders approved during April and May was 41s. 7d. and 41s. 8d. respectively.
§ Mr. BoydenDoes not this mean that the average tender price for council houses of 900 square feet has gone up by £300 in the last 18 months? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that his predecessor, when he answered a similar Question on 12th July, agreed that faster completion was not the only answer to the problem of getting the price down? Will the hon. Gentleman carry on with the story and tell me what other steps the Government intend to take to get the price down?
§ Mr. CorfieldI will take the arithmetic of the hon. Gentleman for granted because such a calculation is beyond me at the moment. I think that the most promising line of advance is towards more standardisation and greater productivity in the building industry. This is a matter to which my right hon. Friend is turning his attention and we shall do our best to provide some improvement.
§ Sir C. OsborneHow much of the increased cost is due to wages?
§ Mr. CorfieldThat is actually another question, but, for the information of my hon. Friend, the London rate for craftsmen rose from 4s. 10½d. in February, 1959, to 5s. 10½d. in February of this year.
§ Mr. M. StewartDoes the hon. Gentleman realise that when he puts his last Answer side by side with the Answer to an earlier Question, it will reveal that the effect of Government policy on council houses has been that we have fewer of them; each one contains fewer square feet, and each square foot costs more?
§ Mr. CorfieldOf course, when building costs go up, the square footage costs rise. Despite the lower total area, the size of rooms has been maintained throughout.