§ 56. Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on the current work load of the construction industry.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe provisional estimate of the value of construction output for the first three quarters of 1980 is about £16.5 billion. There are, however, different trends in particular sectors: repair and maintenance, and commercial and industrial building have held up well overall this year, while private and public sector housing have declined.
Substantial public sector expenditure on construction is planned for this financial year though there are reductions in some programmes over the previous year. These plans 215W were set out in table 5.2 of "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1980–81 to 1983–84" (Cmnd. 7841). The industry 's falling work load is, however, a matter of concern to the Government. We have produced a number of measures to facilitate development and the industry will, we are sure, now make best use of these opportunities to explore ways of increasing private sector development. Our first priority is the creation of a sound economy and this remains the key to a strong construction industry in the future.