HC Deb 15 November 1966 vol 736 cc200-1
6. Mr. Dance

asked the Minister of Power if he will give details of the cost of the current High Speed Gas advertising campaign.

Mr. Marsh

High Speed Gas is merely a phrase used in the general advertising of the gas industry. The industry has agreed to limit total expenditure on advertising to £3 million in the current financial year.

Mr. Dance

Will the Minister give an assurance to the public that as a result of this expensive campaign there will not be a shortage of gas? Will he also bear in mind that it is rather significant that on the same day this half-page advertisement appeared another paper said: Southern Gas Board stops sales of fires. Supply fears. Will the Minister give a categoric assurance to the nation that there will be enough supplies of gas, however hard the winter, to meet all requirements?

Mr. Marsh

For the hon. Member to get my agreement to the last part of his question, he should have been more active on this subject a few years ago. Some of the plants might then have been laid down and we might have the capacity today to meet the demand. In reply to the second point, some forms of advertising are very valuable because they inform the customer of the choice that is available to him and help to build up desirable loads, such as off-peak electric heating, and get people to use current in a particular fashion.

Mr. Speaker

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Walter Bromley-Davenport.

Mr. Dance

Is not the Minister—

Mr. Speaker

Order. I did not call the hon. Member again.

Sir W. Bromley-Davenport

Why waste money advertising gas when there is no competition except against nationalised electricity or private enterprise fuel oil, which has to bear heavy taxation to subsidise these two moronic industries?

Mr. Marsh

I must apologise for my last answer. Had I realised that the hon. and gallant Member was particularly interested I would have spent longer explaining the reply to him. The point which I was trying to make is that one of the purposes of this advertising is that it directs consumption to particular methods of consumption which are useful to the gas industry and the electricity industry generally by, for example, increasing the requirement for off-peak supplies. I would be prepared to discuss the matter further with the hon. and gallant Member.