§ 49. Mr. Templeasked the Minister of Public Building and Works whether he has received the report of the working party set up to examine research and information services in the construction industries; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RipponYes. In September last year representatives from the building industry, including the associated professions, accepted in principle a proposal I had made that a research and information association, financed jointly by the industry and the Government, should be established. They agreed to set up a Working Party, under the Chairmanship of Mr. D. Woodbine Parish, C.B.E., "To examine the need for improved research and information services; the scope of any Association to achieve improvements; the constitution of such an Association; and the arrangements for financing it". The Working Party reported in December and in agreement with the industry's representatives, its Report has been published. Copies are now available in the Vote Office and will be on sale to the public tomorrow.
The Working Party unanimously accepted the need for more research and better information services, and recommended that funds for this purpose should be raised mainly by a com- 32W pulsory levy upon the building and civil engineering industries. I intend now to pursue with these industries the possibility of establishing, under the Industrial Organisation and Development Act, 1947, a development council to raise and administer such a levy.