HC Deb 17 December 1969 vol 793 cc1323-5
4. Mr. Silvester

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works if he will make a statement on the current value of orders for new construction as published by his Department.

12. Mr. Allason

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works what estimate he has made of output in the construction industry for 1969.

Mr. John Silkin

Figures for the third quarter of 1969 indicate that orders for new work this year continued to fall. As I said in reply to the hon. Members for Twickenham (Mr. Gresham Cooke) and the Isle of Wight (Mr. Woodnutt) on 12th November, I expect the decline in output in 1969 to be about 3 per cent. from the 1968 level.—[Vol. 791, c. 388.]

Mr. Silvester

Is it not the case, however, that some of the figures for the first nine months of this year show declines of up to 20 per cent. in public sector spending on construction compared with the first nine months of last year? Is not that a rather more serious picture?

Mr. Silkin

Any decline in output is bound to be somewhat serious, but there was an exceptionally bad winter, and, therefore, the first nine months of this year may have been somewhat overbalanced by that. I hope that the final figure at the end of the year will not be quite so bad.

Mr. Allason

Is the Minister aware that the industry has described this as the worst setback in 20 years? What does he propose to do about it? Cannot he give any hope for the industry? Is he aware of the evidence to the Bolton Committee that there is too much do-it-yourself going on now, with consequent damage to the fabric of buildings?

Mr. Silkin

There is a large number of questions to be answered all in one here. It does not behove any Minister in these circumstances to be self-satisfied about the situation. I agree that it is difficult. I am somewhat consoled, however, by the knowledge that, taking the last 10 years at constant prices, the average annual output was £3,300 million in the construction industry. Taking the appropriate years of Conservative Government. it averaged £3,200 million, but under a Labour Government it has averaged £3,650 million.

Mr. Fernyhough

Would my right hon. Friend not agree that if there is slack in this industry which needs to be taken up the Conservative councils which have considerably reduced their housing programmes despite the need in their respective areas might do more to build the houses people need?

Mr. Silkin

I certainly think that more might be done in housing. I know that my right hon. Friend has made considerable efforts to improve the conditions for house-building generally in the private sector as well as encouraging the public sector to build more houses.

Mr. Speed

Would the Minister not agree that, apart from the exceptional winter of 1963, this is the first decline since 1951?

Mr. Silkin

It depends on what sort of a decline we are talking about. We are talking here about a decline from a very high level indeed to a level not so high. It is still much higher than it was in the years when the friends of the hon. Gentleman were in control.

22. Mr. Mawby

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works if he will list in the OFFICIAL REPORT the value of output in the construction industry for each of the past 10 years.

Mr. John Silkin

Statistics of the value of construction output at current and at constant prices appear in the Annual Bulletin of Construction Statistics, which is available in the Library.

Mr. Mawby

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for telling me where the information can be obtained. Is he aware that it is evident that the value of output will be down this year and that the actions of the Government are mainly, but not completely, responsible for it? What will he do about it?

Mr. Silkin

I cannot help suspecting that the hon. Gentleman is trying to get a second bite at a cherry we had earlier. To take the first of the ten year figures, in 1959 the value of output in the construction industry, at current prices it is true, was £2,399 million; last year it was £4,567 million.