§ 3.20 p.m.
§ LORD ST. HELENSMy 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 the advice of the Ministry of Power to the Fuel Industries to curtail their advertising programme was given in the hope of reducing demand for the fuels concerned.]
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, the Government recognise that in the short term a curtailment of advertising will have only a limited effect on the demand for the various fuels, but they consider it inappropriate for large-scale advertising to continue in present circumstances.
§ LORD ST. HELENSMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that reply, may I ask, in view of the fact that power cuts stem from lack of capacity, why have the Ministry not encouraged the Electricity Board to proceed with their campaign for storage heaters?
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, the Electricity Board have conducted a campaign for storage heating. I agree that it helps if electricity can be consumed in off-peak periods. But this decision, which became operative from December 1, was made principally because, in present circumstances, advertisements of any kind may cause misunderstanding and irritation. After all, if you are reading an electricity advertisement about space heating in the midst of a power cut, it is apt to make the atmosphere seem rather more frosty than it otherwise would be.
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, are Her Majesty's Government satisfied with the present load factor? Would it not be perfectly desirable to allow an advertising campaign to help us spread the load factor by installing night storage heaters?
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, I am sure that that is a sound suggestion, and it was what I endeavoured to convey in answering the previous supplementary question from the noble Lord, Lord St. Helens. But we feel that at the present time such campaigns, however valuable they might be if looked at nationally, and in the long run, would be inappropriate.