 Prior to 1944, while most households in urban areas of England and Wales had a piped water supply, the situation in rural areas was that only 70 per cent had this service.As a result of the provisions of the Act, this had increased to 80 per cent by 1951.On 18 November 1947, Colin Thornton-Kemsley, the MP for Kincardine and Western Aberdeenshire, asked questions in the House of Commons of Arthur Woodburn, the Secretary of State for Scotland, about the practical outworkings of the Act, as by that time applications for grants in Scotland exceeded the money available by around £25 million.