§ Mr. Chichester-Clarkasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is aware of the low level of response in the private sector of the construction industry to the metrication programme; and what action he proposes to take.
§ Mr. AmeryYes; according to statistics published by the Royal Institute of British Architects, the value of private sector metric projects which had reached the production drawings stage by the end of September, 1970, totalled £129 million, representing 11.5 per cent. of the private sector's total design workload as compared with a public sector figure of more than 60 per cent.
The latest statistics, however, reveal a significant increase in the fourth quar- 192W ter of 1970, during which private sector metric projects to the value of £49 million, or 17 per cent. of the total, reached the design stage.
Action is primarily a matter for the professional institutions but my National Consultative Council's Working Party on Metrication is considering means of helping them with their task.