§ 45. Mr. Keelingasked the Lord President of the Council whether he will now make a statement about the Reports on the Conservation of Nature in England and Wales, Command Paper 7122, and Scotland, Command Paper 7235, Part II.
§ The Lord President of the Council (Mr. Herbert Morrison)Yes, Sir. The Government have decided to accept in principle the recommendations of these two Reports calling for the establishment of a Nature Conservation Board and a Biological Service under the auspices of the Agricultural Research Council. The Board and the Service will cover Great Britain as a whole, but there will be a special committee supervising the Scottish Division of the Service on the lines recommended by the Scottish Wild Life Conservation Committee. Part of the facilities serving Great Britain as a whole will also be located in Scotland. I should make it clear that the Government are not necessarily committed to the scale of expenditure mentioned in these Reports and that it will in any case take some years before it is possible to work up to the full scale of operations envisaged in them.
§ Mr. KeelingCan the Lord President say whether he will or who will answer Questions about the Nature Conservation Board and the Biological Service; and, secondly, would he say whether the Biological Service is to undertake biological research, or will that be left to the universities?.
§ Mr. MorrisonI think those Questions had better be put clown I would like to consider those points.