§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will detail the stock of fletton bricks held by manufacturers in each month during the past year; and what his Department is doing to increase current consumption of bricks for house construction.
§ Mr. KaufmanStatistics for stocks of bricks are provided to my Department in confidence, and figures for fletton bricks cannot be disclosed separately.
The Government are encouraging public sector house-building and have already secured a substantial recovery. Since the £500 million loans scheme, the monthly rate of building society net new mortgage commitments has more than doubled and the Government will take action with the aim of securing a stable and adequate flow of mortgage lending.