HL Deb 28 May 1968 vol 292 cc1035-6

2.49 p.m.

THE EARL OF IDDESLEIGH

My 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 what legal metrology is, and why the subject requires an international organisation.]

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, legal metrology is concerned with the units of measurement, the methods of measurement and the measuring instruments which are subject to statutory control. The International Organisation for Legal Metrology is mainly concerned with the preparation of agreed codes of technical requirements for the various types of weighing and measuring equipment, with a view to harmonising of statutory controls by the Member States.

TILE EARL OF IDDESLEIGH

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. May I ask him what our adhesion to this international organisation will cost the country, bearing in mind that the subscription is payable in gold francs?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, the noble Earl will be surprised to learn that the amount will be £1,700 a year, which seems to me very moderate; and it helps to support a staff of some nine people in a converted house in Paris.

VISCOUNT DILHORNE

My Lords, can the noble Lord say what is the significance of the use of the word "legal" in this connection, and would he explain what illegal metrology is?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, if the noble Viscount offered to sell tomatoes down the King's Road with an imperfect weighing machine, he would, I imagine, be dabbling in illegal metrology.

LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYE

My Lords, will the members of this organisation enjoy diplomatic immunity?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, that was among the first questions I asked. The answer is, No.

THE EARL OF IDDESLEIGH

My Lords, can the noble Lord inform me whether the sum quoted includes the cost of sending delegates to the biennial conference of this organisation, payment of their travel, fares and payment of their hotel expenses, the expenditure of civil servants' time in writing, reading and commenting upon papers delivered by this international organisation, and ultimately, if not now, the increase in the number of civil servants in order to cope with this work?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, the organisation is directed by a conference which meets once in six years, not once in two years. There are working parties which meet more frequently. The cost of the salaries of the civil servants is extra to the £1,700, but offsetting that is the advantage to our exporters who are in a much better position to export weighing and other equipment overseas, when there are common statutory requirements.