§ Mr. Rossiasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government to what extent the figure of 353,000 houses started in the first nine months of 1967 includes starts made before 6th April 1967, to avoid liability for Betterment Levy, but on which development has now stopped.
§ Mr. MacCollIt is estimated on the basis of returns from a sample of local authorities that, at the end of September, work was stopped on about 9,000 dwellings which are included in the figure for starts in 1967 and which had been started early because of the betterment levy. In addition to these dwellings, there were many others on which certain preliminary development work had been undertaken but which had not reached the stage which for statistical purposes is defined as the start.