HC Deb 23 May 1988 vol 134 cc75-6W
Mr. Holland

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of council house building in(a) England and Wales excluding Greater London, (b) Greater London and (c) Scotland was represented by (i) public direct labour schemes and (ii) private contractors' schemes in 1985, 1986 and 1987, respectively.

Mrs. Roe

Following is available information which is about construction output in new housing for the public sector including council housing.

New public sector housing: construction output Great Britain
1985 1986 1987
£ million (current prices) 918 842 932
of which: direct labour (%) 3.8 3.9 3.4
contractors (%) 96.2 96.1 96.6

Reliable estimates for sub-divisions of Great Britain are not available.

grant-related expenditure assessment and (b) any expenditure target set in each year from 1981–82 to 1988–89, estimate.

Mr. Chope

The table lists the number of authorities in each of the categories requested:

Mr. Holland

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total expenditure on local authority housebuilding for 1986–87 in terms of (i) current prices, (ii) 1986 prices and (iii) share of gross domestic product.

Mrs. Roe

Capital expenditure on house building by English local authorities in 1986–87 is estimated to have been £493 millions (0.13 per cent of GDP) and equivalent to £477 millions at 1985–86 prices. The figure for 1985–86 given in reply to the hon. Member in March 1987 has since been revised to £579 million in current (1985–86) prices, still 0.16 per cent. of GDP.