HC Deb 08 April 1971 vol 815 cc678-81
Q3. Mr. Dalyell

asked the Prime Minister if he will appoint a Minister of Aviation Supply to his Cabinet.

The Prime Minister

As was announced yesterday in the White Paper on Government Organisation for Defence Procurement and Civil Aerospace, it is intended that the Ministry of Aviation Supply should be dissolved on 1st May. Ministerial responsibility for the defence activities of the Ministry will pass to the Secretary of State for Defence, while responsibility for the aerospace industry and civil aerospace policy will pass to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Mr. Dalyell

Has the Prime Minister any reflections about the alleged statement on aerospace attributed to a senior civil servant to the respected defence correspondent of the Daily Telegraph—Air Commodore Donaldson—to the effect that reorganisation means mostly changes in titles and notepaper? On this issue, does the Prime Minister also accept that, granted that the RB211 negotiations are delicate, there is nevertheless a residual problem for sub-contractors whatever happens as an outcome of the RB211 negotiations?

The Prime Minister

As to the subcontractors, I have nothing to add to what has been said by my right hon. Friend. On the hon. Member's first point, I have no evidence that any civil servant has made the remark that is alleged to have been made. I should have thought that in discussing these matters in the Press it was undesirable that remarks should be attributed to an unnamed civil servant. If remarks are to be reported it is important that the one who makes them should be named. If the hon. Member—who studies White Papers very carefully—has read the document that we published yesterday and the report which led to the changes in Government structure, he will know that the comment was quite valueless, because the changes are of an organisational character and are major changes.

Mr. Harold Wilson

While I agree with what the right hon. Gentleman said about Press attributions to unnamed persons, would he confirm that responsibility for the RB211, which is an export order and not a military order, does now come uniquely under the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry? If so, is he aware that this meets a point we impressed at the beginning, that there should be a Cabinet Minister responsible in this House for all the pronouncements? Is he now in charge or is Lord Carrington in charge?

The Prime Minister

At this moment, while the negotiations with which my noble Friend Lord Carrington has been concerned are continuing he will retain responsibility. At the conclusion of the negotiations this responsibility will go, as the right hon. Gentleman has said, to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, who will have full responsibility, and who is, of course, in the Cabinet.

Mr. Wilson

I thank the right hon. Gentleman. Would he confirm that, apart from the immediate issue of the negotiations, it will be the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who will be responsible for the industrial policy and all relations with the Receiver and the Rolls-Royce organisation?

The Prime Minister

Yes; as soon as the negotiations over the RB211 are concluded, that will be the position.

Mr. Wilkinson

Would the Prime Minister not agree that bringing the procurement and regulatory mechanisms of civil aviation under one roof in the Department of Trade and Industry and the further rationalisation by bringing procurement for defence under the Ministry of Defence are eminently sensible and reasonable measures very much overdue?

The Prime Minister

I think that successive Administrations have found this problem particularly intractable. I announced in the White Paper on Government reorganisation last October that we were having a special study made and hoped to reach a conclusion and implement it by 1st April, 1972. The study was concluded recently, and we have, therefore, been able to make the changes more quickly, which I am sure is for the benefit of everyone concerned in the Whitehall organisation and in the aerospace industry.

Mr. Ford

Would the Prime Minister say whether these changes are a forerunner of a general reassessment by the Government of support for the aircraft industry?

The Prime Minister

Obviously, this new organisation will be able to review the size, the scale and the activities of the aerospace industry. We are not at the moment putting in hand any new survey of that kind.

Mr. Whitehead

Can the right hon. Gentleman tell the House whether the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry will be answering to the House for the take-over of the assets of Rolls-Royce by Rolls-Royce (1971) Ltd. if such a take-over should precede the completion of the RB211 negotiations, whatever may be the outcome of those negotiations?

The Prime Minister

It will be the responsibility of the Secretary of State, but, obviously, it will be for him to decide whether he answers questions or takes pan in a debate or whether one of his Ministers does so.

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