§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the level of construction industry unemployment, particularly in that part of the industry which deals with improvement; and what action he proposes to take to reduce it.
§ Mr. Stanley[pursuant to his reply, 30 July 1981]: The latest unemployment figures for the construction industry are in table 2.10 of the Employment Gazette for June 1981, a copy of which I am sending to my hon. Friend. The statistics available do not distinguish between improvement and other construction work. However, he will wish to note that expenditure on housing repair and maintenance work rose last year by 5.4 per cent. in real terms.
The Government have taken the following measures which will benefit home improvement: 718W
- (a) introducing improvement for sale schemes for local authorities and housing associations;
- (b) providing local authorities with the power to guarantee building society mortgages, which can extend to improvement loans;
- (c) giving all secure tenants in the public sector the right to improve their homes;
- (d) extending the home improvement grant system, including making all secure tenants in the private and public sectors eligible for grants for the first time;
- (e) extending housing subsidy so that all renovation work, irrespective of the age of the property and including repairs, is potentially eligible for subsidy.
On the Government's measures to assist the construction industry generally, I refer my hon. Friend to my speech on 8 April to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors—quantity surveyors division—a copy of which I have placed in the Library.