§ 2.36 p.m.
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES (LORD MITCHISON)My Lords, may I be allowed to make a personal explanation to correct a quite natural slip that was made in Hansard. In column 482 of the Report of yesterday, the noble Lord, Lord Glendevon, had mentioned a figure of 8,400 million bricks, and I had not heard the word "million". I thought that this was much too light a figure, and in an attempt, not to give any information but to correct what I thought was his slip, I said that I thought it must have been 8,400,000 and not 8,400, which is what I thought the noble Lord said. Hansard very naturally put in the word "million" there, but it was not what I said. I have checked this on the tape record to make sure I am right about it. I quite understand the noble Lord's feeling that it had better be corrected, as it might sound as if I was impugning his figure, whereas I was in fact only responsible for not having heard fully what he said.
§ LORD GLENDEVONMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his statement, and for making clear that he was not impugning the accuracy of my figure.