HC Deb 10 April 1974 vol 872 cc415-6
16. Mr. David Steel

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will take steps to accelerate the house building programme in the Borders.

Mr. Millan

My right hon. Friend is anxious that local authorities should build as many houses as they need to meet their housing requirements. He has recently authorised the Scottish Special Housing Association to build an additional 100 houses in Jedburgh and Kelso.

Mr. Steel

Does the Minister of State accept that in the time of the last Labour Government one of the methods of success in accelerating the house building programme was the personal visits undertaken by the then Minister responsible, the hon. Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow (Dr. Mabon), to local authorities? May we have a repeat of that sort of tour? If Scottish Office Ministers are too overworked, will the Minister have a word with the Prime Minister about getting another one?

Mr. Millan

In due course, I hope that either I or my right hon. Friend the Minister of State in the Lords will be able to have these consultations. One of the difficulties about the housing position in the Borders at the moment is that during the period of the last Government the number of completions by public authorities was reduced to only a third of what it was in 1970.