HC Deb 25 February 1976 vol 906 cc372-3
18. Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a further allocation of funds available to local authorities in areas of high unemployment for house building and repair.

Mr. Crosland

As my hon. Friend knows, local authorities are not subject to expenditure allocations for new house building. So far as the improvement of public sector housing is concerned, an extra £50 million allocation was announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 12th February. This will be directed mainly to areas of high unemployment in the construction industry.

Mr. Kilroy-Silk

Does my right hon. Friend accept that, welcome though the £50 million is, it could be gobbled up in a day by the housing improvement needs on Merseyside, even by those of Kirkby? Does he accept that, given the abnormally high level of unemployment on Merseyside among building workers—14,000 are now unemployed—and the strong need for the improvement of public sector housing in the area of Knowsley Borough Council, there is a case for additional sums to be allocated to that area? Will he take steps to allocate those funds?

Mr. Crosland

I am conscious that my hon. Friend has quite an exceptional housing problem in at any rate one part of his constituency. The detailed allocation to individual councils will be announced very shortly. I hope that Merseyside will be treated sympathetically as it has exceptional problems. Everyone would like more of the total allocation. The extra £50 million means that there will be a considerably higher allocation than last year and an allocation incomparably higher than the level which was running in the early 1970s.

Mr. Welsh

What progress has been made with the RIBA moving shelf concept? Will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that resources are made available for these purposes?

Mr. Crosland

There was, perhaps, a certain ambiguity in that question. The moving shelf concept, as I understand it, has practically nothing to do with public sector house improvement. It is directed to a wider problem in the construction industry, which wants a moving shelf system for reasons going far beyond local authority housing improvement. I am happy to be reminded of the problem by the hon. Gentleman. We are in constant discussion about it with everybody under the sun.

Mr. Pavitt

May I ask my right hon. Friend to be a little flexible about adopting criteria for what constitutes an area of high unemployment when dealing with the allocation of the £50 million? Will he take into consideration the fact that in London a large increase in unemployment has coincided with urban aid problems? Will he take such factors into consideration as well as the total number of unemployed?

Mr. Crosland

I am always prepared to be flexible, at any rate with moving shelves. The answer to the substance of my hon. Friend's question is "Yes." As I said earlier this afternoon, there will be two criteria for the distribution of this money. One is the level of unemployment in the construction industry and the other is the need of a particular local authority for this kind of public sector improvement.