HC Deb 21 May 1958 vol 588 cc1292-4
38. Mr. Darling

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation to what extent executive posts on the road safety side of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents for which his Department is partly financially responsible, are publicly advertised.

Mr. Nugent

All vacancies in these posts are advertised in at least two national papers and in local and provincial papers where appropriate.

Mr. Darling

Is the Joint Parliamentary Secretary aware that many local authorities are critical of the services they get from the Royal Society; that many of them believe that if the officers on the road safety side were recruited from among experienced road safety officers of local authorities, instead of from among retired Army officers, as is now the case, they would get better service?

Mr. Nugent

No, I am not aware of that. Local people are recruited for all these local appointments. If the hon. Member has any specific instances in mind, I shall be pleased to consider it.

39. Mr. Darling

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation why the annual grant from his Department to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has been increased.

Mr. Nugent

Part of it is to cover increases agreed last year in the salaries and travelling and office expenses of the area organisation of the Society. Some provision has also been made for the possibility of a more extended use of the Society's organisation.

Mr. Darling

Is the Joint Parliamentary Secretary aware that here again there is much criticism, both of the quality of the posters issued and of the charges made, particularly to local authorities, for the posters and the literature they get? Will the hon. Gentleman agree that, in view of the increased grants being made to the Royal Society, the whole question of the Society's work and its possible duplication in the Ministry should be inquired into to see whether road safety work can be improved?

Mr. Nugent

We have these matters continually under review and attention. There is no road safety branch, as such, in my Department. The Royal Society is the chosen instrument of the Government for road safety services. Its organisation has recently been subjected to examination by the O. & M. Division of the Treasury, and I can assure the hon. Member that it is an efficient organisation.

Mr. Strauss

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there is some difficulty about the relationship of the Royal Society with local authorities, and, to put the other side of the case, that the Royal Society often complains that it does not get the co-operation it ought to receive from the local authorities regarding posters and matter which it sends out?

Mr. Nugent

It is entirely a matter for the local authorities to decide what material they will use. But through the area organisations the Society keeps in touch with over 1,000 road safety committees and, taking the country as a whole, there is a good working relationship.

Mr. Snow

Is the Minister aware that this is not the first time this matter has been raised, as I raised it myself two years ago? As the Society is the chosen instrument, could it not make quite sure that it is truly independent in its views? Is he aware that I applied to the Society for statistics and they were refused when I explained that I proposed to use them to criticise certain aspects of Government policy.

Mr. Nugent

If the hon. Gentleman will give details——

Mr. Snow

I have already given them.

Mr. Nugent

—I will examine them.

Forward to