HC Deb 03 February 1955 vol 536 cc1266-7
43. Mrs. Mann

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his Women's Organisations' Committee for Economic Information was appointed; and to what extent and by what amount it is financed by the Treasury.

Mr. H. Brooke

The committee was appointed in September, 1947. Its membership is voluntary and unpaid, with an official chairman and secretary: incidental expenses for meetings, conferences, etc., amount to about £150 annually, and are paid from official funds.

44. Mrs. Mann

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the delegate conference organised by the Women's Organisations' (Advisory) Committee, attended by 100 housewives in Glasgow, has yet reported on the tests conducted at that conference; if he will state the nature and purpose of the tests; and what action he proposes to take on the report.

Mr. H. Brooke

The tests of the audience's knowledge of the quality of certain goods were made at the request of one of the speakers at that conference. The questions were designed to illustrate a point which the speaker wished to make. There was no occasion for any report on the tests or for Government action.

Mrs. Mann

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Glasgow newspapers stated that the chairwomen had asked for a consumer research council or a consumer official to deal with complaints that this committee might make from time to time? Does the hon. Gentleman intend to take effective action to deal with complaints?

Mr. Brooke

The question that the hon. Lady is putting to me goes rather outside my responsibilities. As regards what actually happened at this conference, I have seen letters expressing appreciation of it from members of organisations so diverse as the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs and the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes, so I think that good work may have been done.

Mrs. Mann

The President of the Board of Trade disclaims any responsibility for taking action on the recommendations of these ladies, and the hon. Gentleman has said that it is not within his province. What are they, a pair of philanderers, leading women up the garden path?

Mr. Brooke

I am not sure with which hon. Member of the House the hon. Lady desires me to philander, but as to what happened on this occasion, there were no recommendations made, but one of the speakers showed to members of the audience various materials and invited them, as a test, to express their individual opinions about the materials.