§ 15. Mr. Dribergasked the Minister of Power if he will issue a general direction to the North Thames Gas Board to cease using private contractors on work in connection with the overhaul of new re-forming plants so long as craftsmen employed by the Board and capable of doing the same work are being declared redundant, and that such work should be done, wherever possible, by the Board's own employees.
§ Mr. FreesonNo, Sir. This is a matter for the Board, and I have asked the Chairman to write to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. DribergIf the Minister has no responsibility in this matter, why did the Table accept this Question? Is my hon. Friend suggesting that the Table erred? That is unthinkable. Is he aware of the strong concern and anger felt at the Beckton gas works and elsewhere at this unfair and uneconomic practice?
§ Mr. FreesonI think that the Question was accepted as a matter of courtesy.
§ Mr. DribergNo.
§ Mr. FreesonThe Table Office is not responsible for the administration of the gas industry.
The issue is essentially a managerial matter. Channels are available for complaints about managerial decisions of this kind to be taken up by the men concerned, and I do not think that this is an appropriate matter for the Minister.
§ Mr. DribergOn a point of order. Am I not right in suggesting, Mr. Speaker, that if the Table accepts a Question, the Minister has some responsibility or the Question would not have been accepted in the first instance?
§ Mr. SpeakerA Minister may disown responsibility even after a Question has been tabled. He may reply in whatever way he likes.
§ Mr. RidleyAre the contractors' men employed by the gas boards to have selective employment tax paid in respect of them, unlike the private contractors' men for whom it has to be paid, in line with the decision about gas showrooms?
§ Mr. FreesonThat is another matter of detail which I suggest the hon. Gentleman takes up with the board in question.