HL Deb 03 February 1954 vol 185 cc629-30

2.37 p.m.

LORD ROCKLEY

My Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will institute an inquiry into the cost, procedure and practice of erecting stands at Olympia, Earls Court and other big exhibition centres.]

LORD MANCROFT

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government have given this matter very careful consideration, but on the information before them they do not consider it necessary to institute such an inquiry. Their information is that there are a considerable number of contractors who will undertake the construction of exhibition stands at Olympia, Earls Court and other big exhibition centres, and that there is keen competition amongst them. There are, for example, more than thirty firms on the list of contractors who are invited from time to time to tender for the construction of official stands at exhibitions. These tenders vary considerably in amount. In the Government's view, exhibitors can best safeguard themselves against paying unnecessarily high prices by obtaining competitive tenders for the construction of their stands. If the noble Lord has any information that might throw any different light on these matters, perhaps he will be good enough to let me have details, and I will look into it.

LORD ROCKLEY

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his reply, I should like to ask if he can say whether the cost of erecting these stands is likely to go up or down, as it is really a direct charge against production.

LORD MANCROFT

I understand that the cost of erecting these stands has been going up steadily since the end of the war, but I believe that in the last year or so it started at last to come down.