§ 12. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the functions of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition in 1851; and what are the sources and annual amount of its income.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsIts function is to further the general objects for which the Exhibition of 1851 was designed, in particular to increase the means of industrial education and to extend the influence of science and art on productive industry. Its income derives from investment of the profits of the Exhibition and amounts to some £71,500 a year.
§ Mr. HamiltonDoes my right hon. Friend agree with the proposition that it is perhaps about time that he wound up this Royal Commission and transferred its functions to the Department of Education and Science, a Department which is publicly accountable to this House? Can he say whether there is any overlap between the functions of this Commission and the Department of Education and Science?
§ Mr. JenkinsIt is perfectly true that this body has been in existence for a rather longer time than most Royal Commissions, but it is not entirely in the nature of a Royal Commission in the normal sense of the word. The Commission performs some useful functions. It endows science research scholarships 663 for Commonwealth students and senior students in the United Kingdom and awards Rome scholarships in the fine arts. It presents reports to the House every 10 years, which, in view of its antiquity, is not perhaps an unreasonable period. I will certainly look, in conjunction with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science, to see whether there is any overlapping.