HC Deb 26 July 1962 vol 663 cc1722-3
Q3. Mr. Prentice

asked the Prime Minister if he will define the responsibilities of the Minister of Public Building and Works in relation to the balance between housing and other forms of building; and whether these will include control of the location of new office buildings.

The Prime Minister

As the extension of the title of the Minister in charge of this Department implies, I have decided that it is necessary to review the responsibilities of Ministers in relation to building and especially to building by public authorities. I shall decide the precise boundaries of responsibility between my right hon. Friends concerned in consultation with them. My right hon. Friend the Minister of Public Building and Works will, of course, encourage and facilitate maximum productivity in the construction industries to provide for rising programmes, including housing. The location of new office buildings is a matter for the machinery of planning for which my right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government remains responsible.

Mr. Prentice

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that his reply is very disappointing in regard to the control of office building? Is he aware that about 15,000 new jobs in offices have been created in London in the last few years and that the failure of the Government to have any strategy about it has aggravated London's housing problem and frustrated the Government's puny efforts in regard to the distribution of employment elsewhere?

The Prime Minister

The hon. Member may hold those views, but this is really a matter of planning. The Question was about the building for which the Government are responsible.

Mr. Dugdale

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in my constituency, as in many others, there is a very grave housing shortage and the principal thing which makes it impossible to overcome it is that so many building workers are engaged in putting up offices nearby?

The Prime Minister

These are, of course, matters of balance, but the general housing progress is very great.

Mr. Gaitskell

Is it not clear, in view of the appalling traffic congestion and the slow rate of slum clearance, that what is needed is effective co-ordination between the Board of Trade, which is responsible for the location of industry, including office building, and the Ministries of Housing and Local Government and Transport? What is the Prime Minister going to do about that?

The Prime Minister

That is exactly the co-ordination that is now going on. [HON. MEMBERS: "How?"] Through the ordinary machinery of Government. This is really a question of the more extended responsibilities of the old Ministry of Works, particularly with regard to the increase in productivity and the new methods developed in the building industry, through which there is a great deal we can still do.

Sir T. Moore

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that the system of brake and accelerator in the building industry is almost as destructive as discontinuing the production of bricks and other necessary materials?

The Prime Minister

The acceleration since 1951 has been going at a pretty good rate.