HC Deb 01 December 1975 vol 901 cc1246-7
17. Mr. Stanley

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what guidelines he has issued to the NEB; and whether he will publish them.

Mr. Kaufman

As my right hon. Friend said on 22nd October, we shall publish the text of the draft guidelines as soon as we have completed the confidential discussions which are now taking place.

Mr. Stanley

Is not it extraordinary that the guidelines have not been published, although the Government have announced their industrial strategy? Is not it important that these guidelines should be published at the earliest possible date? In the absence of these guidelines, will the hon. Gentleman say whether it is the policy of the NEB to buy into profitable sectors of manufacturing industry, and, if so, will the hon. Gentleman say which sectors the NEB has in mind?

Mr. Kaufman

It is the policy of this Government, under the appropriate Act of Parliament, that the NEB may buy into profitable sectors of industrial manufacturing. As for the hon. Gentleman's misgivings about the delay in the publication of the NEB guidelines, we are consulting various bodies, of which the CBI is one. I hope the hon. Gentleman is not saying that he does not wish us to consult the CBI.

Mr. Hooley

Does my hon. Friend agree that the resources of the NEB, amounting to £1,000 million over five years, are grotesquely inadequate? Does he agree that something like five or six times that sum would be more appropriate?

Mr. Kaufman

I agree that it is necessary to make the maximum amount of money available to the NEB to enable it to carry out its essential task.

Mr. Tebbit

Does the hon. Gentleman not recognise that it is not only the guidelines that are the subject of some mystery, but also the number of people employed by the NEB? When can we expect questions about the number of people employed and other matters affecting the NEB to be answered in this House?

Mr. Kaufman

The hon. Gentleman must not expect me to deal with a point of order which has been raised with Mr. Speaker. I have answered a Question on this matter, and we must now await developments following the point of order that was raised by the hon. Member for Tonbridge and Mailing (Mr. Stanley) last week.

Mr. Tom King

When will the hon. Gentleman realise that Members on the Opposition side of the House are getting heartily fed up with being asked to pass legislation when we are not aware of any of the ways in which that legislation will operate? As in the aircraft and shipbuilding legislation there is no strategy for those industries, so with the NEB there are no guidelines. Will the hon. Gentleman at least give an undertaking that one of the guidelines will be that the NEB will at all times have regard to the new industrial strategy of the Government?

Mr. Kaufman

Between 1970 and 1974 the hon. Gentleman trotted through the Division Lobby—[HON. MEMBERS: "Answer."] I cannot answer anything if I am being held down by yahoos. The hon. Gentleman trotted through the Division Lobby to vote for legislation of maximum imprecision and capable of maximum damage. It ill becomes him to attack the present Government on well-framed and sensible legislation.