I will come to that point, but at the moment I am giving figures about what is being done. I will not give the figures for February or March because the totals were approximately the same. But the April figures jumped to 3,472, to a total value of £148,210; and in May the figure was 3,295 and the total value £158,940. I know that not all licences are for housing repairs and maintenance work, because the figures include small non-housing jobs where the value of the work is under £100. But I do want my hon. Friends to appreciate that there has been a heavy rise both in the number of licences granted and the value of the work under licence. This may be partly accounted for by the take-over by the corporation of some licensing functions formerly exercised by the Ministry of Works, but corporation officials themselves, at zonal conferences we have held, have said that the major part of the increase was due to the licensing of more house repair work.

The second thing we have to bear in mind is the head of labour for use for this purpose. The total labour force in Birmingham, on housing work, is estimated to have averaged during the last 6 months some 6,600 men. It was distributed as follows: new building by local authorities, 1,350; new building by private enterprise, 750; repair to war damage houses and conversions, 1,850; temporary houses, 600; repairs and other work under licence, 2,000.

It will be seen that the head of labour engaged, broadly speaking, on the provision of new units of accommodation is approximately 4,500, compared with 2,000 on repairs. The number on repair work represents a higher proportion in Birmingham than anywhere else in the Midland region. Taking the figures I have given for licences and for the head of labour, I would suggest that the volume of repair work now proceeding in Birmingham is at as high a level as is consistent with the present limitations, and is certainly not lagging behind in comparison with anywhere else.—[An HON. MEMBER: "You do not know what you are talking about."]—The hon. Member says that I know nothing about it. The figures I have given for the number of people engaged on repair work, most of which is work of a type to which the hon. Member was referring, is higher in proportion in Birmingham than in other parts of the Midland Region.