§ 39. Mr. Macdonaldasked the Minister of Technology what action he has taken to ensure that the collective skill of those who were employed at the Associated Electrical Industries Advanced Development Laboratories, Blackheath, now closed down, is not lost to the country through dispersal.
§ Mr. FowlerNone, Sir. I do not accept that design and development teams should be excluded from the necessary processes of rationalisation taking place in industry, and I understand that 28 much of the work being done at Blackheath duplicated that being done elsewhere in the new G.E.C.-A.E.I. group. I am assured that almost all those who were employed at Blackheath have either accepted a transfer to other units in the G.E.C.-A.E.I. group or have already found alternative employment elsewhere.
§ Mr. MacdonaldWhat lessons has the Ministry of Technology, as distinct from the D.E.P., learned from this affair, and what steps has it taken to ensure that it will receive advice of any similar happening in the future, when there is to be a dispersal of collective technological skill, so that it may make representations before a final decision is taken?
§ Mr. FowlerThe Ministry does not necessarily have to be consulted before a private sector research establishment is closed down, although where Ministry of Technology projects are in progress we would expect to be consulted. Where the closure of a research establishment might lead to the break-up of a particularly valuable research team whose work might be lost to Britain we might also wish to intervene.