HC Deb 27 May 1968 vol 765 cc1199-200
4. Mr. Kenneth Baker

asked the Minister of Social Security what approaches she has had from Professors Titmuss, Abel Smith and Townsend for Government financial support for their projected majority survey into poverty in the United Kingdom.

Mrs. Hart

None, Sir. I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth, West (Mr. Judd) on 11th April. I would add that Professor Titmuss has not been involved in the Abel Smith-Townsend survey.—[Vol. 762, c. 333–4.]

Mr. Baker

Does the right hon. Lady agree that several approaches have been made to her Ministry over the last three years for support for a survey into property? What are the real reasons for the Government not supporting such a survey which is the starting point of all social reforms? Why do the Government not want such a survey? Is the right hon. Lady worried about the possible results of it?

Mrs. Hart

If the hon. Gentleman is referring to the totally inaccurate and misleading article in The Guardian which may have put the last thought into his mind, perhaps I can assure him that that is not the case. I have not—and this is what I made clear to my hon. Friend in April—had any request for assistance from the organisers of this survey. My predecessor was asked last year whether she would give certain help with it, but mainly on interviewing, not so much on money. Some limited help was given at that stage, but the present survey, which Professors Abel Smith and Townsend have proposed, is a matter for the Social Science Research Council which comes to its own view, and I cannot comment on what is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science.

Mr. Speaker

Order. We have a number of Questions.