§ Lieutenant William Griffithsasked the Minister of Health whether he will now say what arrangements he is making to accelerate and simplify the giving of consent to local authorities' housing proposals.
§ Mr. BevanFrom 1st January all housing proposals of local authorities will be dealt with at regional offices of the Ministry, except in London Region whose work will continue to be dealt with at Whitehall. An officer of the Ministry to 1637W be known as Principal Housing Officer will be stationed in each region and it will be his responsibility to settle any question with which other Departments are concerned by direct contact with the regional representatives of those Departments, and to ensure that proposals for housing sites and building schemes are cleared with the minimum of delay.
From 1st January too, local authorities will be empowered to issue for their housing proposals their own priority certificates for labour and for all restricted materials with the exception of timber. Certificates for timber will be issued from the regional offices of the Ministry as tenders for housing schemes are approved.
I think that these arrangements should materially accelerate and simplify the giving of consent to local authorities' housing proposals.