§ 17. Mr. Goldingasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications whether he will issue a general direction to the Post Office to include in the annual report and accounts reports from the Council of Post Office Unions.
§ Sir J. EdenNo, Sir. This is not an appropriate matter for a direction.
§ Mr. GoldingIs the Minister aware that the annual report of the Post Office would be more balanced if it included sections of the reports of the trade unions and users' councils? Is he further aware that the experiment along these lines conducted by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, South-East (Mr. Benn) was very successful?
§ Sir J. EdenIt is for the Post Office Corporation to include in its report the material it thinks appropriate.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisIs the right hon. Gentleman aware of the extremely generous offer of the members of the Post Office Engineering Union to install telephones under Section 2(1)(h) of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, 1970, in their own time and without pay? Is he also aware of the difficulty about industrial injuries cover? What is he doing to solve this problem?
§ Sir J. EdenI have seen the report inThe Guardian.It deals with a totally different question from that on the Order Paper. I have no doubt that this matter could be satisfactorily resolved by discussions between the men concerned or their representatives and the Post Office Corporation.