HC Deb 23 June 1971 vol 819 cc1403-4
9. Mr. Douglas

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the costs of the economic surveys prepared in Scotland in the period from 1960 to date.

Mr. Gordon Campbell

The costs of the five major regional economic and physical planning studies commissioned by the Scottish Office since 1960 were:

£
Lothians 56,000
Grangemouth / Falkirk 58,000
Central Borders 59,000
North-East Scotland 12,000
Tayside 35,000

Mr. Douglas

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that reply. Will he inform the House whether he has read all those surveys? Of course, there is one survey omitted, which has had a devastating effect on the Scottish economy in the last few weeks. I refer to the sur- vey of the shipbuilding industry compiled by the hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley). All those other surveys which the right hon. Gentle man has mentioned—

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Member is not entitled to make a speech. He must ask a question.

Mr. Douglas

I wish to know whether the right hon. Gentleman will place in the Library of the House the survey of the shipbuilding industry prepared by the hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury so that we can all see the method by which the Government have butchered the industry on the Clyde.

Mr. Campbell

I do not myself know anything of a survey of the kind described. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] I presumed that the hon. Gentleman intended to raise the question of the survey which his own county of Clackmannan initiated, in which I am particularly interested.

Mr. MacArthur

Is my right hon. Friend aware that there is one survey to which he has not referred, and which is, perhaps, best forgotten? Does he recall the January, 1966, pre-election survey published by the Labour Party and which was wrong about employment, wrong about population, and wrong about everything else? Is is out of kindness that he has not mentioned it, or charity, perhaps, to the former Secretary of State? If so, is my right hon. Friend aware that those feelings of sympathy are ill deserved?

Mr. Campbell

My hon. Friend is entirely right. I presume that the survey to which he referred is the January, 1966, White Paper which was linked to the National Plan, which also proved to be entirely wrong.

Mr. Ross

Do I understand the right hon. Gentleman to say that he knew nothing about and did not receive a copy of the report drawn up on the future of U.C.S. by his hon. Friend the Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley)? A direct yes or no.

Mr. Campbell

If the right hon. Gentleman is referring to something I have seen referred to in the newspapers, the answer is that I did not know of such a document.