§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Minister of Public Building and Works if, in the light of growing unemployment in Portland and further redundancies now announced by the stone firms, he will take steps to encourage Government and local authority building agencies to make increased use of Portland products.
§ Mr. John Silkin:I am aware of the difficulties of the Portland stone industry.
My Department knows the values of Portland Stone, which is considered for use in new Government buildings together with other possible materials.
In the public sector costs are naturally a prime consideration. This militates against the extensive use of stone, but the Housing Subsidies Act, 1967 provides a small subsidy to enable stone to be used in areas of considerable visual amenity where stone buildings predominate and where it is desired that new buildings should harmonise.