Captain Duncanasked the Minister of Health how many houses and flats which were being built by local authorities and private enterprise, respectively, at the beginning of the war are still in a semi-constructed state, their completion having been stopped by Goverment order?
§ Miss HorsbrughThe completion of houses by private enterprise was not stopped by Government orders at the beginning of the war, but local authorities were advised generally to arrange for the completion of houses in an advanced stage of construction and not to continue work on houses in an early stage or to start foundations for new houses. The position at 31st March, 1942, was that 7,426 houses included in contracts let by local authorities at 3rd September, 1939 (or in approved direct labour schemes), had been started but were not being proceeded with: 5,238 of these were not beyond damp-proof course level. I have no comparable information regarding private; enterprise building, but in view of the vital importance of a start on housing schemes being made immediately circumstances permit, officers of the regional staff of my Department are already ascertaining in the course of their visits the extent to which partly developed sites are in the hands of both private enterprise and local authorities.