§ 17. Mr. Nabarroasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to scrutinise, and to publish as necessary the results of his scrutiny, the respective sums authorised by Parliament for each and every constructional scheme promoted and completed by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, since 1946, and the respective sums actually expended by the Board for each and every constructional scheme; and what is the aggregate disparity between Estimates authorised by Parliament and actual costs since 1946.
§ Mr. Henderson StewartThe consent of my right hon. Friend is required to the borrowing by the Board of the sums needed to carry out its constructional schemes, and he is therefore in a position to consider the difference between these sums and the estimated costs given in the schemes presented to Parliament. In the case of the six completed hydro-electric schemes, estimated between 1944 and 1947 to cost £12,060,000, the sanctioned borrowing amounts to £27,825,600. In the case of seven transmission line schemes, estimated between 1947 and 1951 to cost £4,040,000, the sanctioned borrowing amounts to £4,714,870.
§ Mr. NabarroWill my hon. Friend institute some reasonable machinery for publishing, either in the Official Report or elsewhere, the disparity that now regularly exists between the sums authorised by this House for these very expensive schemes and the ultimate cost to the taxpayers?