SCOTTISH HOSPITAL TRUST (Hansard, 20 January 1971)

Mr. Edward Taylor
I beg to move Amendment No. 11, in line 4, leave out from 'and' to end of line 5 and insert 'not more than seven and not less than five other members so appointed'. The right hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross) has been liberal in his praise, for which I am grateful. I hope that he and his colleagues feel that their labours have been well rewarded. In regard to his comments, I feel that perhaps we shall have to be more conservative in the number of Amendments we accept from the Opposition or perhaps must look more carefully at them. However, I am sure our reason for accepting them has been because of the weight of arguments in Committee.
Once again I am glad to put forward an Amendment dealing directly with a point raised by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Woodside (Mr. Carmichael). He suggested in Committee that it would be sensible to prescribe both a maximum and a minimum number of members, other than the Chairman to be appointed by the Trust.
We have thought about this matter a great deal and we now agree that it would be appropriate, because it would make for a sensible size of the Trust. The Amendment will give effect to the proposals advanced in Committee by the hon. Member for Woodside. We agree 1233 that if the Trust is to be a success it should be capably managed by not too large and not too small a number of gentlemen. We fully accept the hon. Gentleman's argument. That is why we have introduced the Amendment.

Mr. Edward Taylor
I beg to move Amendment No. 10, in page 7, line 7, leave out paragraph 3.
This Amendment is consequential on new Clause I which was introduced following points raised by the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross). The new Clause makes the more specific provision relating to the appointment of an investment expert which in Committee it was agreed seemed desirable. It is now thought better to provide this by a new Clause, and this paragraph of the Schedule is no longer necessary.

§ Mr. Ross
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has met our wishes in this respect and has made the consequential change to deal with the earlier point. I am beginning to think he should go away on honeymoon a little more often! It has been wonderful to see his agreeable reaction to suggestions which we have put forward in respect of Bills. We will encourage him in this direction. In fact we can probably provide him with a "pair".