§ 9. Mr. Ednyfed Hudson Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will take steps to ensure that the new Welsh Council is given specific powers to call for private and public investment in Wales, and that full publicity is given to its work except where secrecy is clearly desirable.
§ Mr. Cledwyn HughesI can assure my hon. Friend that the Welsh Council's responsibilities will be wide enough to enable it to advise the Government on the need for private and public investment in Wales. Although there may be occasions when it will be asked to submit advice in confidence, the Council will at its discretion be free to prepare reports for publication.
§ Mr. DaviesThe second part of that Answer will be welcomed in Wales, but does not my right hon. Friend agree that, in addition to having the right to give advice, the Council should be required to make specific recommendations for investment and development in Wales?
§ Mr. HughesI shall welcome any proposals which the Council asks me to pursue, but I hope that my hon. Friend will not under-estimate the substantial investment in the private and public sectors which is in hand for Wales.
§ Mr. BirchThe Question asks that the Welsh Council shall have power to call for investment. Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that Owen Glyndwr said, "I can call spirits from the vasty deep", and he was then asked, "But when you call them, will they come?"? This is really the point here.
§ Mr. HughesWe on this side of the House prefer to draw our inspiration from Robert Owen of Newtown and not from Owen Glyndwr.
§ Mr. E. RowlandsWill my right hon. Friend now authorise the publication of the reports of the existing panels of the Welsh Economic Council, as much advance information was not included in "Wales—the Way Ahead" which ought to see the light of day?
§ Mr. HughesAs my hon. Friend knows, up to now the reports of the Welsh Economic Council have been on the basis of confidentiality, as has been the practice of the Economic Councils in England and Scotland. But, as I have said, from March onwards the Council will, at its discretion, be able to publish reports.
§ Sir Harmar NichollsThe right hon. Gentleman said that co-ordination was not lacking. Did he hear his right hon. Friend say in reply to Question No. 2 that representations on Welsh matters had gone mainly to the Minister of Transport and had not been drawn to his attention? Is not that a lack of coordination, if what the right hon. Lady said was true?
§ Mr. HughesOn these matters there is complete consultation between the Welsh Economic Council and the National Coal Board and between the Welsh Economic Council and the Welsh Office, because it is the Council's duty to report to me in the first place. There is complete co-operation between my right hon. Friend the Minister of Power and myself.