§ Mr. A. Edwardsasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works if he is aware that the Tarran permanent house, recently erected, is cheaper to build and more quickly erected than the temporary steel house designed by his Department; whether he proposes to adopt this type of house; if not, whether his Department has made a comparative study of both types of houses and if a report is to be published.
§ Mr. HicksMy Noble Friend has watched with close interest the development of the house referred to in the Question and my Ministry was represented at its recent erection. All proposals for new types of permanent houses are referred to the Interdepartmental committee on House Construction under the Chairmanship of Sir George Burt, and the interim observations and criticisms of the Committee and of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research have been communicated to Mr. Tarran. Their final report will, with Mr. Tarran's agreement, be published. On present information, the Tarran house would appear to be more expensive than the emergency house and to use more man hours on the site.