HC Deb 20 March 1969 vol 780 cc877-8

Motion made and Question proposed, That a sum, not exceeding £8,420,000, be granted to Her Majesty out of the Consolidated Fund, to defray the expense of miscellaneous effective services, including grants in aid, which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1970.

9.56 p.m.

Mr. Ramsden

Unfortunately, there are only four minutes left. That means that we shall not have time to get beyond this Vote, and we shall not have time to say much that is useful about it.

It covers a very wide area, and I should have liked to pick up many interesting points. The best thing I can do is to bowl the Under-Secretary one or two hard volleys which will give him an opportunity to get an answer in so that we can conclude the day kindly.

During the previous Estimates debate, the National Army Museum was mentioned and applause was expressed from both sides that building has now started. The right hon. Gentleman pointed out that the running costs would be met from public funds. I may have been stupid, but I did not hoist in a satisfactory answer when I asked whether the capital contributions privately raised towards the building fund were to be matched by any grant from the Government. If the answer is "no", which is not unexpected but possibly a matter for regret, then if the privately raised funds fall a bit short I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would be the first to recognise that this would present an opportunity for making a strong case for whatever was deficient being made up from public funds to complete the building of the project.

Mr. Boyden

The sum in the Estimates is £4,000 for the Museum at Sandhurst, £1,500 for the purchase of exhibits, and £2,500 for maintenance. When the new Museum is operating the same kind of grants will be made by the Government. The running cost of the museum, which is considerable, will be looked after by the Government. Of the £800,000 which has been raised, about £181,000 has come from the Army, some through the Army Board. There have been two reasonably large grants from non-public funds; but there is no intention that for this or the R.A.F. museum there will at this stage be a grant from public funds for the capital.

Mr. Dalyell

I hoped at one stage to make a speech on research, design and development covered in Section J. I will confine myself to saying that when the Select Committee on Science and Technology, which has gone into these matters in great depth, publishes its report, I hope it will be urgently studied by the Department.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved, That a sum, not exceeding £8,420,000, be granted to Her Majesty out of the Consolidated Fund, to defray the expense of miscellaneous effective services, including grants in aid, which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1970.