HC Deb 25 February 1976 vol 906 cc354-5
5. Mr. Steen

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the inability of local authorities to build to Parker Morris standards within the cost yardstick.

Mr. Armstrong

I do not accept the implication of the hon. Member's Question. It is entirely inconsistent with the substantial increase we have achieved in public sector house building over the last two years.

Mr. Steen

Will the hon. Gentleman encourage local authorities to purchase privately-built houses which are not subject to the Parker Morris standards? Does he realise that local authorities are falling behind in their building programmes because they have to conform to those standards?

Mr. Armstrong

I think that the hon. Gentleman found great difficulty in associating what he wanted to ask with the original Question. Public sector building has seen a substantial increase. Far from local authorities falling behind, we are encouraged by their response.

Mr. Joseph Dean

Is my hon. Friend aware that the people in charge of the local authority building programmes during the lifetime of the Conservative Government spent three years trying to get them to lift the yardstick, and that it took the present Government to do so, thus allowing local authorities to get building contracts into the pipeline?

Mr. Armstrong

Yes, and that statement is substantiated by the figures we have. All public sector housing schemes have to meet the yardstick discipline, and virtually all are built to Parker Morris standards.

Sir W. Elliott

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that, because of the yardstick, Newcastle City Council's direct labour force lost no less than £85,000 last month, while six contracts are running at an estimated 18 per cent. above the council's basic estimate? Will he bear in mind that there is a lot of spare capacity in the private building sector and use the maximum encouragement to local authorities to put out tenders to private contract?

Mr. Armstrong

We are always anxious to consider anything which will help in the provision of suitable housing, but I do not see what the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question has to do with the Parker Morris standards.