HC Deb 21 June 1966 vol 730 cc277-80
Q2. Mr. Rippon

asked the Prime Minister whether he will publish a White Paper on the Reorganisation of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

The Prime Minister

No, Sir. I do not think that a White Paper could add significantly to the full information which has already been made available to the House.

Mr. Rippon

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the growing concern at his continuous and, one might say, ineffectual changes in administration without adequate explanation? What further changes are contemplated and what are the Government going to do to stop the serious downward trend in housebuilding and the record increases in costs?

The Prime Minister

I think that this was fully explained, so fully that the right hon. and learned Gentleman was able to base the greater part of his speech in the recent housing debate on that explanation. No further changes are in contemplation in this area, so far as Departmental responsibilities——

Mr. Rippon

No more Ministers?

The Prime Minister

The right hon. and learned Gentleman I am sure understands that we had to end the civil war between his old Department and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and it has now been ended. As to the deep concern, I am aware of some of the rather extravagant statements which were made over the weekend, and my right hon. Friend has challenged their authors to debate them with him on television.

Mr. Murton

Has the right hon. Gentleman seen a particular statement referring to trouble-shooters? Would it not be a good idea, if there are to be trouble-shooters, that they should shoot at the trouble caused by the mess and muddle of his Administration in the housing sphere?

The Prime Minister

I am not sure to which statement about trouble-shooters the hon. Gentleman is referring. We had a very serious situation with which to deal. I recognise that there was a very difficult marginal argument as to whether certain responsibilities should be in the Ministry of Public Building and Works or the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. We decided on the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, which was a view taken during the greater part of the term of office of the Conservative Administration.

Mr. Heath

When is the Prime Minister going to abandon his complacency about the failure of his housing policy in a situation in which prices are steadily rising—and are being increased by the S.E.T.—in which mortgages are running at their highest level and in which the number of houses built has been falling steadily in the last six months? Will he realise that these kind of organisational changes are not meeting need? Will he therefore get some new policies and a new Minister and sack the present Minister in the autumn?

The Prime Minister

These organisational changes are, in our view, desirable and necessary for dealing with the situation. The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that, despite the serious situation in February, there is now—I think all of us recognise this—a pick-up in the housing situation and—[Interruption.]—the right hon. Gentleman, like the rest of us, had better wait to see whether this is reflected in next month's or the next two months' housing figures.

Mr. Heath

Is the Prime Minister aware that in eight of the nine months the figures for housing completed have fallen compared with those of the previous year and that this is causing hardship and misery to the people of this country?

The Prime Minister

The position is that the number of houses under construction is still almost at a record level. The right hon. Gentleman is certainly right if what he is suggesting is an extension in the period from start to completion. One reason has been the labour position. If we had not taken the measures we took it would have been a great deal worse last year. He also knows that there is still a surprising and somewhat unexplained failure on the part of private enterprise housing to complete houses when, as the whole House knows, the amount of mortgage finance available for producing those houses is at a record level.

Mr. Woodburn

Is my right hon. Friend aware that all house building depends in the first instance on the capacity of the building trade and resources in materials for the building of those houses? Can he say whether the Government have at any time restricted the building trade or curtailed the number of houses to be built, or been in any way responsible for any shrinkage?

The Prime Minister

There is of course no restriction. As the House knows, when we took office the planning by the right hon. Gentleman the then Minister of Works was such that there were not the bricks or materials necessary—the right hon. Gentleman knows that that was the position—not on the labour side, because of their violently inflationary programmes which we have dealt with.