§ 2. Sir L. Healdasked the Minister of Health, as representing the Lord President of the Council, the cause of the continued silence of the Committee on the Effects of Noise on Human Efficiency, set up jointly by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Medical Research Council, and last heard of in an answer given on 31st March, 1953, by the Minister of Labour; and when he expects to receive a report from that Committee.
§ Mr. TurtonI presume my right hon. and learned Friend has in mind the Committee on Individual Efficiency in Industry, which was referred to by my right hon. Friend the present Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation in a reply he gave on 31st March, 1953. The primary task of this Committee is to suggest and stimulate research on all matters affecting the technical efficiency of the individual in industry. The Committee has not published any reports, but I understand that it considered the subject of noise at its meeting last month and concluded that the evidence available did not justify it treating research on this subject as a matter of primary urgency in relation to other commitments of greater importance from the point of view of industrial productivity, which is the Committee's main concern.
§ Sir L. HealdWould my right hon. Friend convey to the Lord President of the Council the view that this House is extremely interested in the question of noise and its relation to efficiency, notwithstanding the fact that the House allowed itself to be mischievously counted out when the matter was discussed recently?
§ Mr. TurtonI do not think that I need convey to the Lord President of the Council the question of the counting out of the House, but I will convey to him the earlier part of that supplementary question.
§ Mr. J. PatonIs not the continued silence of the committee an effective contribution to the absence of noise?