§ 15. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Public Building and Works if he will state the proportion of the national product spent on housing today and in 1951.
§ Mr. RipponThe percentages of the gross national product of the United Kingdom spent on housing in 1951 and 1962 were 2.9 and 3.5 respectively.
§ Mr. AllaunDoes not this proportion contrast very unfavourably with comparable countries abroad where the proportion is from 6 per cent. to 8 per cent.? Will the Government raise their sights and aim at a target of something like 500,000 houses a year?
§ Mr. RipponWhat really matters, as the hon. Member has suggested in his 1029 last sentence, is the total number of houses built and that has risen from 202,000 in 1951 to 313,000 in 1962. I find it difficult to make valid comparisons with figures of the "European league". There is no real basis of comparison. In any case, expenditure expressed as a percentage of gross national product is not a very good indication of the amount of accommodation provided.
§ Mr. AllaunDoes the right hon. Gentleman know that his figures do not tally with those prepared by the Observer and that I am rather puzzled by his reply because I believe that the figures are actually lower than they were 12 years ago?
§ Mr. RipponI have no responsibility for figures in the Observer.