§ 71. Mr. BevanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the most recent set of construction figures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TrippierProvisional figures for the first quarter 1988 are given in the table.
Construction activity in Great Britain—1st Quarter 1988 £m 1980 prices—seasonally adjusted Output1 New orders2 Housing Private 1,086 1,040 Public 177 152 TOTAL 1,263 1,192 Other New Work Private industrial 752 659 Private commercial 1,214 1,879 Public non-housing 837 1,090 All other new work 2,803 3,628 TOTAL NEW WORK 4,066 4,820 Repair Maintenance and Improvements3,4 Housing R M and I Private 856 Public 561 Private Non-housing R and M 552 Public Non-housing R and M 695 TOTAL R M AND I 2,664 TOTAL All Work 6,730 1Includes DLOs of LA's and PAs 2Private Contractors only. 3 Includes housing refurbishment but non-housing refurbishment is included with new work. 4Orders for R and M are not collected. These total output figures of £673 million are the best for 15 years and represent a 10 per cent. increase over the 616W same period a year earlier. It has been largely achieved by the dominant influence of work for the private sector reflecting the success of the Government's economic policies.
The high level of contractors' new orders confirms that the healthy state of the industry will be maintained during 1988.