HC Deb 30 October 1957 vol 575 c187
9. Mr. Beswick

asked the Secretary of State for Air why the air journey of the all-party delegation to the Royal Air Force station, Waddington, on 26th September was excluded from the provisions of the insurance cover recently announced.

Mr. Ward

As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained in his reply to my right hon. Friend the Member for Kelvingrove (Mr. Walter Elliot) on 1st August, the arrangements to which the hon. Member refers apply to hon. Members travelling on a Parliamentary committee or delegation set up directly by the House, Committee of Selection, or Mr. Speaker. I understand that the visit to Royal Air Force Station, Waddington did not fall within its scope.

Mr. Beswick

Surely the Secretary of State understands that this visit was a useful one, carried out at his invitation, and if it was a useful one, as most of the Members thought it was, why is it so excluded from this arrangement? Is it a Treasury direction, or did the Secretary of State merely think that it was not worth while applying the arrangement in this case?

Mr. Ward

I think the hon. Member knows how very much I value visits by hon. Members to our airfields. I wish these visits occurred more often. But the scope of this particular scheme is not a matter for me; it is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr. P. Williams

Would my right hon. Friend not agree that the really important point here is that the scope of this scheme should be expanded?

Mr. Ward

I would ask my hon. Friend to address that question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.