HC Deb 12 March 1930 vol 236 cc1331-5
Mr. EDE

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the law relating to the admission of the Press to meetings of local authorities. The Bill is a very short one, and is supported by representatives of each of the three parties in the House. It deals with a point that will arise as from the 1st April next, and with a matter to which a good many of us attach some considerable importance. The original Act for the admission of the Press to meetings of local authorities first came before this House as a private Member's Bill introduced by the Noble Lord who is now Lord Cecil of Chelwood. It arose out of the refusal of the Mayor and Corporation of Tenby to allow a member of the local Press to attend the meetings of the town council because he had published some criticisms of them which were so just that they did not like them. It was then indicated, through that Measure, that the Press should have the right to attend the meetings of certain bodies elected by the ratepayers, and among those bodies were the boards of guardians.

As from the 1st April next, the boards of guardians will disappear, and the county councils or the county borough councils, as the case may be, will become the authorities to discharge all the public services hitherto performed by the boards of guardians. Just before the introduction of Lord Cecil's Act, the school boards had been similarly abolished, and their powers taken over by the county councils, by the county borough councils, and, in respect of elementary education, by certain borough councils and urban district councils, and in the definition of a local authority the Act provided: The expression 'local authority' means an education committee so far as respects any acts or proceedings which are not required to be submitted to the council for its approval. The education committees took the place of the school boards, in the same way that the public assistance committees of the county councils will take the place of the old boards of guardians, and this Bill merely provides that a public assistance committee, just as an education committee, shall be a local authority for the purposes of the Local Authorities (Admission of the Press to Meetings) Act.

4.0 p.m.

I desire to commend this Measure to the House in two or three sentences. As one who has been very actively concerned with the educational administration of a county council, I know that the education service has gained in public esteem through the extent to which its administration can be discussed at meetings of the education committee. This House is an assembly which is always exceedingly difficult to address, but it is by no means so difficult to address as a meeting of a county council. Any Member who has served both in this House and on a county council will agree that meetings of a county council are very difficult assemblies to address. Members, especially in rural counties, come from very wide districts. They keep an eye on the clock to an extent that those who have not served on a county council can hardly believe, and participation in discussion is regarded too frequently as an effort to keep these gentlemen from catching a convenient train home. The mass of business to be discussed at a county council meeting is now so large, that only questions of very wide general importance can really be discussed there with any great amount of profit. In taking over the work of public assistance, great changes are going to be made in certain public services that very closely affect the lives of a large number of people.

One of the benefits that people, irrespective of party, hope to be gained from the Act, is that there will be a better use of the buildings which hitherto have been under the control of boards of guardians, and a better classification of the inmates. That, in itself, involves that certain persons now in institutions near their relatives may have to be removed to institutions far away from their relatives. Such a matter as that ought to receive the greatest amount of publicity, so that the views of as large a number of people as possible may be brought to bear. It must occur to the mind of anyone who has studied the work of the Local Government Act, 1929, that similar questions to that will be a very large part of the duty of the public assistance committee during the next few years. It is highly desirable, therefore, that the general public should have as good an opportunity of knowing the work of the public assistance committee as they have of the education committee. This Bill creates no new precedent. It merely says that, just as the education committee replacing an ad hoc authority was declared a local authority for the purpose of the Local Authorities (Admission of the Press to Meetings) Act, so the public assistance committee replacing the board of guardians, an ad hoc authority, shall be a local authority for the same purpose.

I would like to say, in conclusion, that this Measure is not introduced at the behest of any of the great newspaper trusts. I gather that their interest in boards of guardians and public assistance committees is not very wide, but there is a very general feeling among the local newspapers of the country that it is highly desirable that they should have the same powers and privileges in respect of public assistance as they have in respect of education. Therefore, I suggest to the House that in doing this we are creating no rash precedent that can be used in any way to the detriment of the public service, but we are ensuring, if this Measure becomes law, that a reasonable facility shall be granted to the Press to bring local doings to the notice of the people resident in the locality.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Ede, Mr. Alpass, Mr. Bowerman, Mr. Foot, Sir Nicholas Grattan-Doyle, Mr. Hurd, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Lawther, and Mr. Naylor.

    c1335
  1. LOCAL AUTHORITIES (ADMISSION OF THE PRESS) BILL, 38 words