LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, I beg leave 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 their attention has been drawn to a recent statement in the Press attributed to a firm of contractors to the effect that "a new pedestrian subway at Hyde Park Corner has been completed in less than three weeks instead of the usual six months or more", and whether they can explain this remarkable discrepancy between the possible and the usual.]
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD CHESHAM)My Lords, the subway in question is a temporary one, and its expeditious construction cannot fairly be compared with the time taken to build a permanent one.
LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his reply, I should like to ask him, in all seriousness, as it is relevant to this matter, whether he will press his right honourable friend to look again at the possibility of working double shifts in the months of the year when there are long periods of daylight. I have raised this matter with the noble Lord before, and so far I have got nowhere. I believe that a great deal of time could be saved in these vital projects such as the Hammersmith fly-over.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, that is, of course, perfectly correct and this is a thing which my right honourable friend by no means overlooks. I have before—and I do not think it is necessary to go into the matter again—stressed that there are countervailing arguments about shift work.