I am grateful to my hon. Friends for raising this matter. There are perhaps one or two points of detail which they may permit me to look into and upon which I will write to them. I should not seek to contest for one minute—I myself have lived in Birmingham, though it was some years ago—that there is a great number of sub-standard houses in Birmingham, that people will inevitably have to go on living in them for many years, and that there is a vast programme of patching up which could be done if we had the materials. I know there is a limit to the patience of those who are contributing their rates and taxes to the building of the new houses. I know there is a limit to their patience when they have to live under all too dreadful conditions; but I am sure my hon. Friends would not expect me to anticipate the considered statement that my right hon. Friend promised on the subject of reconditioning in general. I must confine myself to the more limited aspect of the subject—the business of repairs.

Of course, one could give a general answer which would not be acceptable to my friends. One could say we have not unlimited building resources, that the available resources are being used to the full and that, therefore, any substantial expansion of repair work could only be at the expense of new house building. As everyone knows, over the last few years huge pent-up demands for repair and maintenance to existing houses have accumulated throughout the country, but I must insist that until at least the worst of the housing shortage has been overcome, repairs, except for essential and urgent work, must continue to be deferred. But I would ask my hon. Friends to believe that a substantial amount of work is being done in Birmingham, and I want them to take note of it. I think it would be as well to put on record what is in fact being done. In December last the number of licences issued by Birmingham Corporation was 1,383, to a value of £65,690. In January, the number of licences was 1,881, to a value of £100,350.