9. Brigadier Clarkeasked the Minister of Fuel and Power how far he anticipates that electricity cuts can be progressively eliminated from 1952.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerI hope that the rapid increase in generating plant, and other measures to deal with the problem of peak hour demand, will bring about a progressive improvement in the next few years.
Brigadier ClarkeMeantime, has the Minister given any thought to paying compensation to the various firms who have lost money, since nationalisation, because of cuts?
§ 16. Miss Irene Wardasked the Minister of Fuel and Power what representations have been received from the various committees serving the Northern Region on electricity matters regarding the power cuts.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerI have regular meetings with the chairmen of the area electricity consumers' consultative councils, and in January I had a special conference with the chairmen and deputy-chairmen of the councils, the chairmen and deputy-chairmen of the area boards, the members of the British Electricity Authority, and their divisional controllers. At all these meetings, representations were made to me about power cuts, and measures for dealing with them were discussed.
The North-Eastern Area Consultative Council make representations to their area board, who are responsible for deciding on the incidence of the cuts that are required, and on the measures to mitigate the loss they cause.
§ Miss WardWould the right hon. Gentleman publish the results of that inquiry and what decisions were taken, other than the announcement by the right hon. Gentleman that all these power cuts are due to full employment, because presumably that would not be registered at this business meeting?
§ Mr. Noel-BakerThe last statement just made by the hon. Lady is true, but many of the other things which were decided at that meeting have been published and action was taken in many ways.