HC Deb 05 April 1978 vol 947 cc420-1
11. Mr. Mudd

asked the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the Chairman of the National Freight Corporation.

29. Mr Trotter

asked the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the Chairman of the National Freight Corporation.

Mr. William Rodgers

Shortly.

Mr. Mudd

When the right hon. Gentleman next meets the chairman, will he ask him what justification there was for the January management meeting of British Road Services to be held in Las Palmas, with wives in attendance, rather than in London, as is customary? Will he ask, too, in what way that was benefiting the overall financial structure of British Road Services?

Mr. Rodgers

I shall certainly ask the chairman that question, because I do not know the answer.

Mr. Temple-Morris

Does the Secretary of State agree that the considerable achievements of the National Freight Corporation are due mainly to its commercially aggressive—Las Palmas or no Las Palmas—private-enterprise style of management? Does he therefore agree that there is a considerable case for at least an interest in the NFC being passed back to the private sector so that the money that then becomes available can be used for something more useful than nationalisation, namely, hospitals and schools?

Mr. Rodgers

No. If the hon. Gentleman is right in his interesting but somewhat circuitous analysis of the success of the NFC, the logic is that it should be allowed to expand into a larger public sector.

Mr. Ronald Atkins

If we are to follow the private sector in this regard as well, are we to have more management of British industry from abroad?

Mr. Rodgers

I could not be sure, but our public sector industries should certainly recruit the best management they can, and I am glad to pay tribute to the high quality of management in the NFC and elsewhere.