§ 20. Mr. Alec Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will publish the reports of the Welsh Council, especially those making recommendations on specific pit closures.
§ Mrs. WhiteIt is open to the Council to publish reports on its work subject to any overriding considerations of confidentiality. But advice by the Council to the Government on the effect of individual colliery closures is given on a confidential basis and it would not be appropriate to publish it.
§ Mr. JonesWould not my hon. Friend agree that a pit closure is a severe blow, not only to the miners involved, but to the whole community and that, if the miners are to have confidence in the pit closure programme, it is essential that they be given more information as to the type of advice tendered by the Welsh Council?
§ Mrs. WhiteThe advice of the Welsh Council is only one of the many factors which my right hon. Friend the Minister of Power has to take into account. We are fully aware of and sympathetic to the need for the greatest possible co-operation with the National Union of Mineworkers.
§ Mr. Gibson-WattThe hon. Lady will be aware that we on this side have pressed her right hon. Friend to be more specific about the Reports of the Welsh Council. In this connection, would the hon. Lady perhaps remind her right hon. Friend of 706 the words of the hymn which we in the Church of Wales use very often:
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom"?
§ Mrs. WhiteBetween them, the hon. Member and my right hon. Friend would make a very good choir.
§ Mr. G. Elfed DaviesIs my hon. Friend aware that the Chairman of the North-East Planning Council has no such inhibitions and that when there have been tentative pit closures in the area, he has made it clear where his council stands? Would not my hon. Friend agree that it would be far better for good democratic government if the same thing applied in Wales?
§ Mrs. WhiteI am aware that on one occasion such advice was disclosed. Whether that was wise is a matter of opinion.