§ Mr. A. Royleasked the Minister of Public Building and Works whether he is satisfied that the statistical information on the activities of the construction industries at present available is adequate, in view of the greatly increased demands on these industries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RipponNo. I intend to introduce a number of changes. In the first place we need more information about how the load of work is distributed. We also need the information more quickly, both nationally and locally. The construction industries have agreed to the collection by my Ministry of additional statistics of new orders, starting in January, 1964. These returns will give the location of the projects, which will enable the work load to be analysed by areas as necessary. Returns will now be made monthly by a limited number of firms, instead of quarterly as at present. The information, which will be valuable to the Government for planning their construction programmes, will also be made available to the industries so that they too can plan ahead on the basis of sound and up-to-date information.