Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the availability of (a) raw materials and (b) skilled labour in the construction industry on the Government's housing targets; and if he will make a statement.

The Government’s Housing Implementation Task Force meets regularly to review issues, such as the availability of skills, relating to the delivery of new homes and industry reports such as the Construction Sector Network reports, produced by the Construction Industry Training Board, provide an indication of the skills the construction industry believes it will require between 2015 and 2019 for housing and wider construction. Statistics maintained by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills allow us to monitor key flows of construction materials such as bricks.