HC Deb 19 October 1976 vol 917 cc379-80W
Mr. Douglas-Mann

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what savings in public expenditure for 1975–76 and 1976–77 he estimates will result from the reductions in starts in house building in the public sector from the numbers planned at the time of publication of the White Paper on Public Expenditure.

Mr. Freeson

Control of housebuilding programmes in the public sector was not re-imposed to make savings on the relevant estimates of expenditure contained in the White Paper on Public Expenditure—Cmnd. 6393—but to forestall prospective overspending on new housebuilding in 1977–78 of the order of £100 million. The expenditure for 1975–76 will be unaffected by these decisions. As regards the estimates for 1976–77, any changes will be published in the next White Paper on Public Expenditure.