§ 2.39 p.m.
§ LORD WILLIAMS OF BARNBURGHMy 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 they have considered the advisability of appointing a representative of the agricultural industry to the National Economic Development Council and, if so, what were the reasons for their negative conclusion.]
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, Her Majesty's Government have considered this matter. When the National Economic Development Council was formed, it was decided that its members should be appointed in a personal capacity, not as representatives of particular industries. If the principle of direct representation of particular industries had been followed there would have been many justified claims and the Council could not have been kept to a reasonable size. Arrangements have however been made for the Council, through their staff, to have the benefit of authoritative advice from the agricultural industry. For this purpose the Farmers' Unions of the United Kingdom, the National Union of Agricultural Workers and the Country Landowners' Association have set up a joint committee. This committee put forward a submission, which was taken into account in the Director-General's Report recently published on the growth of the British economy to 1966. In addition, the National Farmers' Union have made available a member of their staff to serve on the staff of the Council.
§ LORD WILLIAMS OF BARNBURGHMy Lords, while thanking the noble Earl for his reply, I fully appreciate that it would have been almost an impossibility to have all the various industries and services represented on the Council, but does he not think that agriculture is in a position needing special representation, in that there is a great deal of interdependence between agriculture and many heavy industries, such as agricultural machinery and so forth, and that therefore there should be 404 a representative from the agricultural community sitting on the Council?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEAlthough we do not think that vocational representation would be the right method, the Government appreciate that farmers have a special interest and special problems. The Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Vine when the Council was formed, Mr. Selwyn Lloyd, discussed this matter personally with the President of the N.F.U., and the Director-General of the National Economic Development Office was also subsequently in touch with him. We try to maintain contacts and get all the advice we can from the representatives of the agricultural industry.
§ LORD WILLIAMS OF BARNBURGHTo avoid appearing to provide a representative from any particular industry, would it not have been possible to select one from the agricultural arena without its being thought that he was representative of the National Farmers' Union, or indeed, of any section of the farming community?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEI do not know whether that would have been possible. But I would certainly say that being a farmer is not a disqualification for anything of this kind.
§ EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHBut apparently it has failed to produce any qualifications. This is the largest industry in the whole country. It has an enormous effect on the general economic balance. I should have thought that the noble Earl would be able to tell us which representative on this Council can speak effectively about the whole of the agricultural economy.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEIf the noble Earl wishes to discuss the qualifications of people who are on the Council, that is another question. What I am trying to tell your Lordships is that, we do not think vocational representation would he very practicable or the best way of arranging the membership of this Council. But we do recognise the special importance of agriculture in our economy.