Shipyards (Manufacture of Building Products) (Hansard, 30 April 1963)

§ 32. Mr. Wolrige-Gordon
asked the Minister of Public Building and Works if he will make a statement on the finding of the Committee set up to investigate the potentialities of shipyards to contribute in the manufacture of housing components.

§ 33. Dame Irene Ward
asked the Minister of Public Building and Works when it is proposed to give prefabricated parts for the housing programme for construction in North-East Coast shipyards and what is the estimated value of the work.

§ Mr. Rippon
The Report of the team which I appointed to study the feasibility of spare capacity in shipyards being devoted to the manufacture of building products has been printed and copies are now available in the Vote Office. I wish to say how grateful I am to the team for a most helpful Report.
The Report indicates that many shipyards have spare capacity which could be used for the manufacture of components for industrialised and other building and that they can offer a wide variety of skills. It indicates the types of building components which seem to be most suitable for production in shipyards.
895 My right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport and I intend to keep in close touch over the practical application of the recommendations of the Report. Meanwhile, to enable full advantage to be taken of the possibilities opened up by the Report, I am setting up three inquiry centres to provide points of contact between the shipbuilders, the building industry and potential clients. The inquiry centres will be in Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester and I will, with permission, circulate their addresses and telephone numbers in the OFFICIAL REPORT. Inquiries can also be addressed to the Headquarters of my Ministry, its Headquarters in Scotland, my Director for Wales or to the regional directors at any of the regional offices of my Ministry.

§ Mr. Wolrige-Gordon
In thanking my right hon. Friend for that statement, may I ask how optimistic he is about this operation and, in particular, whether its effect can, and will, be extended to shipyards other than those investigated by the Committee?

§ Mr. Rippon
The Report is a technical one. Its recommendations are of general application and, I think, will be helpful to many shipyards.

§ Mr. Hector Hughes
To get the most useful results for the nation and for the industrial community from the Report, will the Minister say whether he has consulted the relevant shipbuilding and engineering trade unions and sought their advice upon the Report and its practical application? If he has so consulted them, what advice have they given him?

§ Mr. Rippon
I had preliminary consultations with the bodies represented on my National Consultative Council, which is representative of the building and civil engineering employers, the trade unions and the associated professional bodies. I told them that I intended to publish the Report and to set up the inquiry centres. They may have further comments to make when they have studied the Report.

§ Dame Irene Ward
While thanking my right hon. Friend very much for initiating the Committee which made the Report and for the action he has taken, may I ask whether I should be right in assuming that everything will be getting to work with the greatest possible speed? Following what has been said by the hon. 896 and learned Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Hector Hughes), may I ask whether my right hon. Friend has any idea whether he will get the full cooperation both of the trade unions and of the shipyards concerned in this important matter?

§ Mr. Rippon
I believe that they will co-operate. The object of these inquiry centres is to enable the Government's professional advisers to indicate how these industries may act and not to tell them exactly what they have to do. The reason why collaboration is so necessary is that many of the schemes for diversification in the past have broken down because there has not been enough consideration of the problems of design, price and marketing. I hope that these inquiry centres will help to solve these problems as quickly as possible.

§ Mr. C. Pannell
Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate the great difficulty of turning over factories to producing new types of articles? The answer is, of course, to nurse them through the teething stage of technological development. What is he doing, through the Ministry, which is the greatest direct labour set-up we have, to see that there is a reasonable demand for the products from these establishments, bearing in mind that there may have to be an element of subsidy at the beginning? It is rather difficult to ask people to undertake a new line in manufacture unless they can get long runs at an economic cost.

§ Mr. Rippon
The Report deals with these technical problems and what can be done. The greatest possibilities lie in light-weight prefabricated components in the shipyards, because the capital cost is lower and one can get into production more quickly. Everything depends, I agree, on getting orders. The bulk of the orders would come at first from local and public authorities and perhaps, in the end, from private enterprise. Before we consider the next steps we must look at the Report and make use of these inquiry centres.

§ Mr. McMaster
What arrangement is there to have this Report and the inquiry centres available in Northern Ireland?

§ Mr. Rippon
My Ministry has no responsibility for the welfare and 897 efficiency of the building industry in Northern Ireland. Nor is the United Kingdom Government responsible for housing there, but I can say that if shipyards in Northern Ireland are interested we would certainly welcome their inquiries either at Ministry headquarters or at one of the inquiry centres. Probably Manchester would be the most convenient place. I have made copies of the Report available to the Northern Ireland Government.