HC Deb 24 July 1972 vol 841 cc1313-6
36. Sir Bernard Braine

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has received the report of the committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Matthew Stevenson, which has been inquiring into the status and functions of the Crown Agents; and if he will make a statement.

38. Mrs. Hart

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has now received the Stevenson Report on the Crown Agents; and if he will reconsider his decision on its publication, in view of the public importance of the relationship between Her Majesty's Government and the Crown Agents.

Mr. Wood

I have received the committee's advice and with permission I will circulate a statement in the Official Report. Briefly, the committee found that the interests of the Crown Agents' principals and others concerned would best be served by the continuation of the whole range of services which the Crown Agents provide. I welcome these findings, which reinforce my confidence in the Crown Agents' work for their overseas principals. I also accept the committee's recommendations that there should be a clearly defined status, structure and responsibility for the Crown Agents and that they should bear appropriate liability to taxation. I am considering how these conclusions can best be given effect and I will later make a further statement. I would like to record my gratitude to the committee for its advice. Since most of the Crown Agents' work is for independent Governments, it would not be right to publish the report.

Sir Bernard Braine

Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that the changes he has in mindare in the best interests of the overseas principals? Secondly, bearing in mind the very long and valuable service that the Crown Agents have given their Commonwealth principals over very many years, will my right hon. Friend confirm the impression that a good many of us have had for a long time that the Crown Agents are continuing to serve their principals with skill and integrity?

Mr. Wood

I have every confidence in the integrity of the Crown Agents, and I agree with my hon. Friend about the value of the work they do for their overseas principals. In my opinion the value of that work will be enhanced by changes of the kind I have it in mind to make.

Mrs. Hart

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that when I spoke to him on the telephone last week and he told me that his reply might be too long to give orally, I had no idea that in addition to refusing to publish the report he would issue a statement of the results of the report only in a Written Answer? This is quite disgraceful and it astonishes me. May I put this point to the right hon. Gentleman? Is he aware that in the light of recent discoveries about relationships between civil servants and Governments and between Ministers and Governments following the Poulson investigations, it is irresponsible and inconceivable that a full report should not be published, though not necessarily containing the evidence given by other countries? One can understand that that would not be possible. But is it not irresponsible on behalf of the Government not to publish the findings of this report since they relate to the relationship between employees of the Government and the Government itself?

Mr. Wood

Perhaps I might begin by setting the right hon. Lady's fears at rest about the longer statement that I mean to issue. I assure her that it will contain no surprises. I have summarised it adequately in my shorter answer. As for what she terms the irresponsibility of not publishing the report, I think it would be utterly irresponsible to publish a report which I undertook at the time that I set up the committee would not be published, for reasons that the right hon. Lady knows. What is more, knowing what the right hon. Lady does about the relationship between the Crown Agents and their principals, I am certain that if she were standing at this Dispatch Box she would take the same view.

Mrs. Hart

As one who initiated this report towards the end of the period of the Labour Government, I must tell the right hon. Gentleman that I should not take the view he is now taking. I accept that evidence given by other countries should remain confidential but I do not see why that should preclude publication of the conclusions of Sir Matthew Stevenson and his colleagues, and I do not see why the House and the public should be kept in the dark about the reasons why they have come to the conclusions they have.

Mr. Wood

When the committee was set up, with the concurrence of my right hon. Friend, so that the whole relationship between Her Majesty's Government and the Crown Agents could be examined—which, incidentally, impinges on the Crown Agents' relationship with the principals—I undertook that the report would not be published. It is on that basis that the inquiry has taken place. Therefore it would be utterly irresponsible if the report were now to be published.

Following is the statement:

I told Parliament last November that I had appointed a Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Matthew Stevenson to consider the need for any changes in the status, functions and financial operations of the Crown Agents. I now have the committee's advice.

It surveyed all the Crown Agents' activities, which include a very wide range of services on behalf of nearly 300 overseas principals. The committee found that the Crown Agents are providing competent and economical services, of great value to their principals overseas, and that their interests and those of Her Majesty's Government and the remaining British dependencies, are best served by the continuation of this full range of services I welcome these findings, which reinforce my confidence in the Crown Agents' work for their overseas principals.

The committee, however, commented on the constitutional position of the Crown Agents, and the Government's undefined residual responsibility for them. The committee recommended that there should be a clearly defined status, structure and responsibility for the Crown Agents, and made some suggestions for consideration. The Crown Agents, but not their subsidiary companies, have Crown exemption from taxation. The committee recommended that they should bear an appropriate liability to it. I accept these recommendations and am considering how best they may be given effect. I will later make a further statement.

The main overseas principals have been told of these conclusions, which I believe will further strengthen the Crown Agents in their special relationship of trust with overseas Governments, built up by their long-established activities on behalf of all their principals. I will get in touch with the main overseas principals again as plans develop.

I am extremely grateful to Sir Matthew Stevenson and the members of his committee for their thorough work and wise advice.

Since most of the Crown Agents' work is for independent Governments, it would not, as I made clear in my statement last November, be right to publish the report.