§ 38. Lieut.-Commander Clark Hutchisonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland when the report of the public inquiry into the marketing scheme for wool held in Edinburgh in March will be published.
§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Thomas Fraser)Reports of public inquiries into schemes submitted for approval under the Agricultural Marketing Acts are confidential to the Ministers concerned and accordingly are not published.
§ Lieut.-Commander HutchisonDoes the Under-Secretary realise that the inquiry was held in public? Why should not the commissioner's report be made public?
§ Mr. FraserSurely there is a great difference between the actual inquiry and the report of the commissioner to the Secretary of State. The Statute does not provide for the reports to be published and they never have been.
§ Lieut.-Commander HutchisonHave the organisations interested in the scheme not yet had copies of the report?
§ Mr. SnaddenNow that the marketing scheme is before the House, surely it is incredible that we should not be informed of the result of the inquiry?
§ Mr. FraserThe Secretary of State, of course, does not prevent hon. Members getting to know what took place when the inquiry was held, but what they cannot get to know is what was reported to the Secretary of State as to what he should do about it.
§ Mr. GrimondWill the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that if he would publish the reports of the public inquiries both into the Shetland wool scheme and the United Kingdom scheme, it would greatly assist the producers concerned to make up their minds between the two schemes?