HL Deb 06 February 1964 vol 255 cc248-51

3.17 p.m.

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what will be the most immediate tasks of the National Building Agency which they propose to establish.]

THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (EARL JELLICOE)

My Lords, the National Building Agency will offer expert advice to those who propose to build, whether public authorities or private clients, and to their professional advisers. It will also assist in pooling their building requirements so as to encourage the larger orders necessary for industrialised methods of construction.

Simultaneously, the Agency will be making contact with those who control building systems, whether they are consortia of local authorities or building contractors, and with leading manufacturers of components, in order to establish and maintain the best possible basis for its advice.

The intention of my right honourable friend is that, in order to carry out these tasks, the Agency should equip itself rapidly with highly qualified staff who are familiar with the best modern methods.

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that Answer, may I ask whether he can tell me when this Agency will begin to function?

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, my right honourable friend is certainly not proposing to let the grass grow under his feet, and these consultations are already going on. It is his hope and expectation that they will lead to his being in a position to announce the appointment of the board and the managing director very shortly and in the Agency's beginning operations in a few weeks' time.

EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

My Lords, may I ask whether the powers and this board and managing director have yet been finalised? Shall we be informed as to what the powers are?

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, they are, of course, set out in the White Paper which has been published and with which I am sure the noble Earl is familiar.

EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

Yes, but I understood they were going into further agreements. Are there further agreements?

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, I do not think they are necessary.

LORD HAWKE

My Lords, has the last answer but three any reference to the Green Belt?

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, I cannot recall what my last answer but three was, but I am sure that it has not.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, could the noble Earl say whether that answer has any reference to stopping the grass growing on the railway lines?

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, is there any danger of setting up an Agency which might be regarded as upsetting the building consortia movement which is now going on quite actively.

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, I do not think there will be any such danger. The Government, as my noble friend knows, are doing everything possible to encourage the formation of consortia of local housing authorities, and this has also been a very useful technique in the school building field. It is certainly my right honourable friend's intention that nothing this public Agency does shall in any way interfere with, or cut across, the work of those major consortia. But it is his expectation that the smaller housing authorities will find this new Agency and its services extremely useful and will help them to get ahead more rapidly with their building operations.

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that information, may I express the hope that it will be as successful as it ought to be.

LORD MORRISON OF LAMBETH

My Lords, will the noble Earl, in relation to this matter, try to persuade his colleagues in the Government not to send out posters and advertisements saying that "We"—the Conservative Party or the Government—have built so many houses, so many schools, when they know perfectly well that the houses and the schools have been built by local authorities and not by the Government at all?

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, I think the noble Lord has made a very good political point from his point of view.

BARONESS HORSBRUGH

My Lords, does the noble Lord not think that if these houses and schools were not built, then there might be some noble Lords on the other side of the House who would say: "Why have not the Government built them?"