§ 20. Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Minister of Public Building and Works whether he will now make a statement on his policy regarding competition between public and private enterprise in the system building sector.
§ Mr. MellishI welcome the development of industrialised building methods and consider that competition between one system and another stimulates technological advance. In my view, there is room for systems sponsored both by contractors and by clients in the public sector.
§ Mr. SmithIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that considerable concern is felt by private enterprise school-building systems sponsors that they are in danger of being squeezed out of business?
§ Mr. MellishI have not heard that. Private enterprise systems in the building industry are widely supported in high-rise work. One of the troubles here -I know something of this from my housing days—is that there are so many systems in low-rise work, and competition between them all is not very lucrative for some.