§ 23. Mr. Draysonasked the Prime Minister what provisions are included in contracts made with persons appointed by Ministers to executive positions on nationalised Boards for terminating these contracts before the final date of expiry of any agreement.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee)The Statutes establishing the Boards of socialised industries provide that either Regulations (as, for instance, in the case of the Electricity Authority and its Area Boards) or the relevant Instruments of Appointment (as in the case of the Transport Commission and its Executives) shall lay down the circumstances in which a Minister may terminate appointments to those Boards made by him or by his predecessors. In both types of case an office may be declared vacant in certain named contingencies, or if in the opinion of the appointing Minister the holder becomes unfit to continue in office or incapable of performing his duties therein; or if he deliberately absents himself from such duties without permission.
§ Mr. DraysonThen is it the opinion of the Prime Minister that a member of an area board might be unfit to continue holding office if he considers himself personally unfit to continue on the board of the Bank of England?
§ The Prime MinisterThat is clearly quite a different question.