§ 10. Mr. Harrisonasked the Minister of Works if he will make available the latest decisions concerning the quantity of structural steel available for future building projects in the United Kingdom, and state the difference in recent allocations from those previously allocated; and arrange that, in future, people interested in building projects will be informed as soon as possible of the quantity they will receive, in order to facilitate the necessary pre-planning of building operations.
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§ Mr. KeyIt would not be in the public interest to give details of the allocation of the total steel resources, of which structural steel available for building forms only a part. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, explained in the House on 23rd October that building operations, chiefly on factory building, would have to be curtailed to the extent necessary to save 30,000 tons of steel a quarter. Owing to the vital necessity for making steel available for the export industries this may not, in fact, be the total extent of the curtailment. In reply to the last part of the Question, I could not say in advance of the date when a licence is applied for, exactly how much steel, if any, could be made available for a particular project; that must depend upon the allocations and the demand upon them at the time.