§ 122. Mr. Emrys Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the decline in the number of houses completed in the third quarter of 1949 in Scotland as compared with the previous quarter and the decline in the number of workers employed on house construction on 30th September and 30th June.
§ Mr. WoodburnAs output falls seasonally in the holiday months of July and August, fewer houses are normally completed in the third than in the second quarter. The appropriate comparison is between the third quarter of 1949 and that of 1948, when 5,432 and 5,084 permanent houses were completed respectively, i.e. an increase of 448 over last year's figures. The latest revised figures show only a negligible quarterly fluctuation in labour employed on new construction and site preparation including labour directly employed by local authorities, namely, 32,410 men at the end of September against 32,550 at the end of June.