§ 10. Mr. Bostonasked the Minister of Technology what action he is taking within his Department to implement the decision to introduce the metric system into Great Britain.
§ Mr. Frank CousinsThrough its research stations and advisory staff my Department will give every possible assistance to the British Standards Institution in the preparation of the new series of British Metric Standards foreshadowed in the Written Answer given by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on 24th May, 1965.
§ Mr. BostonWould my right hon. Friend agree that the speedy decision to go ahead with this is an indication of the Government's intention to modernise Britain? [Laughter.] It is all very well for hon. Gentlemen to make much noise, but if they had still been in office Britain would not have been decimalised, it would have been decimated. Could my right hon. Friend say what steps he is taking to see that the fullest possible information is being made available to industry and others involved, and can he say more specifically what is passing between his Department and the British Standards Institution?
§ Mr. CousinsThe Ministry of Technology, through its research stations and the participation of the grant-aided research associations, is represented on more than 1,000 committees of the British Standards Institution. The measures under discussion at the moment answer the question to which my hon. Friend has referred; they include the production of a comprehensive manual of international method units used in 225 industry and trade; also, in collaboration with the Central Office of Information, assistance has been given to the Publishers Association in revising engineering text books for the domestic and export markets.
§ Mr. LubbockWhile welcoming the Government's decision to go ahead on the introduction of metric weights and measures, could the right hon. Gentleman say why there has been complete silence on the introduction of decimal currency?
§ Mr. CousinsThat is hardly a question for my Department.