§ Mr. Lambornasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will review the efficacy of local authority management of their house-building programmes.
§ Mr. FreesonI have discussed this with representatives of the local authority associations and am glad to say that they propose to set up a working group to consider this topic. I welcome their initiative. The terms of reference for the group are
To review the methods of managing local authority programmes of house building, including, in particular, organisation, control and performance-monitoring; to consider ways of improving efficiency, of simplifying procedures and of securing better value for money; and to make recommendations.My Department has been invited to nominate members to serve on the working group and I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the association's work.
Several of the activities involved in the management of a local authority's house building programme lie outside the direct control of the authority involved but in examining what they themselves can do to improve performance on matters directly within their purview the associations will make an important contribution to greater efficiency in housing construction.