10. Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the necessity of improving the balance of trade, he will circularise all architects and engineers drawing up plans for building hospitals instructing them to ensure that wherever possible indigenous materials are used for the construction of such buildings and the use of imported materials reduced to a minimum; and whether there are existing instructions to architects and engineers in this connection and of what nature.
§ 45. Mr. Alisonasked the Minister of Health if he will instruct all architects and engineers to support British manufacturers wherever possible in the hospital building and modernisation programmes and at the same time to be prepared to use imported technical products if these are cheaper or technically superior so that hospital equipment is as efficient as possible.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonIt is the current policy for home-produced materials to be used in the hospital building programme whenever they are available of suitable quality at competitive prices, and no further instructions to this effect are necessary.
Mr. Gresham CookeWould the Minister agree that, during this period of emergency, with very inflated imports, the time has arrived to look at this again to see what savings can be made in the huge timber imports of£200 million a year? Would he like some examples sent him from the building trade of the wrongful use of imported materials?
§ Mr. RobinsonI am always glad to have any information with which the hon. Gentleman cares to furnish me. The arrangements in my Department accord with general Government purchasing policy, and that includes observance of our international obligations, especially Article 14 of the E.F.T.A. Convention.
§ Mr. AlisonIs the Minister aware that the British Tile Manufacturers' Council, in which I have no interest to declare, claims that there are very competitive 1131 British ceramic tiles on the market which, nevertheless do not get a fair crack of the whip from his Department? Would he care to look into a specific example if I send it to him?
§ Mr. RobinsonI will be glad to look at any specific case which the hon. Gentleman cares to send me. Devaluation provides an added incentive to contractors to use British-produced materials. I am sure that everyone in the building industry is aware of this and will do everything possible in that direction. However, there is a limit to the substitution which can be achieved, and there is great difficulty in the case of timber, which was mentioned by the hon. Member for Twickenham (Mr. Gresham Cooke).
§ Mr. HefferIn addition to trying to get substitutes for imports, can my right hon. Friend indicate how far his Department has gone in urging upon architects the need for greater standardisation in design, which in itself would result in a great saving in hospital building?
§ Mr. RobinsonI agree with my hon. Friend, and my Department has taken a forceful lead in impressing on hospital authorities the importance of standardisation of design. We are accelerating the pace all the time.