PRESS STATEMENT ON CONSUMER COUNCIL (Hansard, 1 April 1963)

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, BOARD OF TRADE (LORD DERWENT)
My Lords, copies of the text of my right honourable friend's Answer to a Question in another place were made available to the Press in accordance with the usual procedure. At the same time, the Board of Trade followed their customary practice of providing additional background notes to enable editors to put the Answer in its proper context when reporting it. A copy of the full Press release was placed in the Library in the normal way. The Press office of the Board of Trade also dealt with a number of inquiries.

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
My Lords, first of all, leaving aside the inaccuracies in the oral statement, to which I will come in a moment, may I ask the Minister two small points on procedure? When an agreed Question in both Houses is put down for answer, this being a written one and a subsequent Press release being necessary, is it customary that only the Question asked in another place is mentioned? The second point on which I should like the Minister's answer is this. Does he recall my being told, when I pro- 350 tested because this statement was written and not oral, that one of the reasons was that no mention of the statement would appear in the evening papers?

§ LORD DERWENT
My Lords, as regards the second part of that supplementary question, I myself told the noble Baroness that, in the ordinary way, there was no announcement in the evening papers. In this House, for which I am responsible in this case, there are certain rules about Press releases, and these were carried out. Would the noble Baroness repeat the first part of the supplementary question?

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
I have nearly forgotten it myself. The first question arose out of the rights of this House. When there is an agreed Question in both Houses, is it customary, in a subsequent Press release, to mention only that Question asked in another place?

§ LORD DERWENT
There is no such thing as an agreed Question in either House. What happens in another place, I do not know. I am not responsible for it: I am responsible only for what happens here.

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
I am sorry; that will not do. Still on procedure, is the Minister aware that it was suggested to me—and I fully concurred in the suggestion—that perhaps I should table a Question in this House which was exactly the same as one in another place? I am not complaining about that. What I am asking for, and am genuinely seeking information about, is this. When the release concerning the reply, which is exactly the same for both Houses, is subsequently made, is it customary to mention only the Question in another place?

§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE (VISCOUNT HAILSHAM)
My Lords, perhaps I could help the noble Lady. I do not know the answer to that question, but I will look into it. I have more than once remarked that when this happened it was the other place that got the mention in the Press. Whether it is because it is more important, or because the release mentioned only the other place, I do not know yet, but I will make inquiries and let the noble Lady know.

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
I am most grateful. May I ask the Lord President something else, again on procedure? When there is a Question put down about the appointment of the chairman of any council, and when, in the subsequent Parliamentary Answer, there is no mention of the payment involved, is it customary to make that information available to the public before it is made available to Parliament?

§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAM
I do not know that there is any custom about that. Perhaps this has to do with the next Question on the Order Paper, but I do not know at all that there is any custom about it, or anything which affects the procedure of this House. I should imagine that it would depend to some extent upon the terms of the Question that was asked.

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
I am sorry to pursue the Lord President on this point—I am not being tiresome—but what I really want to find out is this. When the payment to be made to the chairman of a council is obviously of interest to Parliament (and I am not on the next Question), would it not be customary to include that information in the Answer to the stated Question rather than to make it available to the Press before it has been put in the Answer?

§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAM
My Lords, as I said, I think that must depend upon the terms of the Question. I do not think there is any custom about it.

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
Then, with the permission of the House, might I ask the Minister of State, concerning the erroneous statements which appeared in the papers the next day and upon the tape on the day in question, whether he could inform the House how the spokesman for the Board of Trade was so ill-informed as to make various mistakes; and would he tell the House what those mistakes were?

§ LORD DERWENT
My Lords, there was nothing in the information made available by the Board of Trade, whether written or oral, to give the impression that members of the Council would be unpaid.

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
May I ask the Minister—and he need 352 not look so indignantly at me; the indignation is on my side—whether he is aware that in practically all the papers the next day (and, therefore, the inference is that the information was made available to them) there was a statement to the effect that the Chairman of the Council would receive an honorarium, but that this amount was not as the Molony Committee had suggested, because this was not a full-time job, which statement was a complete error? May I further ask him, as regards the statement that the members of the Council would be unpaid, where the statement came from for the oral briefing?

§ LORD DERWENT
My Lords, I am not responsible for what appeared in the Press. I am responsible only for the information issued by the Board of Trade, and that I have explained.

§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY
I think it is a very poor explanation.