§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a public statement of assurance to all local authorities and public bodies that the Government will not cut back their present capital works programmes.
§ Mr. HigginsNo. A statement of the kind suggested would be incompatible with the references to construction work in the Prime Minister's statement of 8th October (Cmnd. 5446). But I hope that58W the measures being taken over the next three months will be enough to relieve the present overload in parts of the construction industry and make it possible to reach the original objectives of public construction programmes with the least possible delay.