ABSTRACT
The Ministry of Housing and Local Government has details about the number of dwellings under construction by local authorities. The inquiry of the Royal Institute of Public Administration covered a wider field than direct labour, and it was not found possible to collect full statistics on this aspect. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government’s figures concern new housing only. They show that in April 1959 there were 137 local authorities building by direct labour. Investigations by the Institution of Municipal Engineers and the Building Research Station had shown that maintenance work by direct labour was widely spread among authorities. Additional information about the scale of direct labour organizations is available from the survey carried out by the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers in 1953 and also early in 1954. Among county councils the use of direct labour for new building is very rare and is the exception even for maintenance.
