Construction suppliers

That this House notes with great concern that orders to supply materials and products to housing associations, local authorities and other public services have in many cases, been put on hold; further notes that many of those suppliers still have high numbers of their workers on the Government’s furlough scheme as a consequence of the lack of orders and are having to consider substantially downsizing their business and the size of their workforce, which would lead to a national loss of construction supply capacity once the furlough scheme ends; and calls on the Government to hold urgent talks with housing associations, local authorities and other public bodies to encourage them to bring forward orders.