Construction Industry (Hansard, 10 November 1982)

§ 22. Mr. Anderson
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the current level of bankruptcies in the construction industry.

§ Mr. Stanley
There were 1,124 bankruptcies in the construction industry in the first six months of this year including both individuals and partnerships going into receivership and companies going into liquidation.

§ Mr. Anderson
Is there not a clear and tragic message for the Government in that answer in terms of the number of jobs lost? The industry has no confidence in the Government and cannot believe that the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State can think that local authorities can turn on their capital investment programmes like taps.

§ Mr. Stanley
I agree with the hon. Gentleman in so far as I regret the level of bankruptcies in the construction industry and any other industry. However, to maintain perspective, the hon. Gentleman should take into account the fact that under the Government the level of bankruptcies in the construction industry has never approached the numbers achieved by the Labour Government in 1975 and 1976.

§ Mr. Nicholas Winterton
Is my hon. Friend aware that the construction industry has considerable confidence in the Prime Minister? Will he give further and deeper consideration to the issue of construction bonds that will attract private resources into the construction industry? Will he also consider further projects that are advanced by private enterprise companies, such as Tarmac Ltd., for the funding of major roadways, which could be built initially with private resources to help public expenditure?

§ Mr. Stanley
I assure my hon. Friend that we have considered those matters in detail and have produced some practical results. We have, for example, increased the proportion of construction activity that can be financed privately. We have achieved much wider building society lending on house purchases than previously and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has pioneered many other schemes in Merseyside and elsewhere using public expenditure to attract substantial private input. I endorse what my hon. Friend said about the construction industry's confidence. That is reflected by the net increase in construction companies in the past two years. Some 8,000 such companies have registered for VAT.