HL Deb 12 November 1969 vol 305 cc621-3

2.25 p.m.

LORD INGLEWOOD

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 how many grants have been paid to date for the building of new hotels or the extension of existing hotels respectively under the provisions of the Development of Tourism Act 1969, and what are the amounts so paid.]

THE MINISTER or STATE, BOARD OF TRADE (LORD BROWN)

My Lords, I understand that the English, Scottish and Wales Tourist Boards are already actively engaged in dealing with applications under the provisions of the Development of Tourism Act. They are required by the Act to make a report on their activities every year, and the report will be laid before this House. Any other progress reports would be at the discretion of the Boards. The Act has given the Boards clear terms of reference as to when they are to report; it would be wrong to institute a precedent for pressing them to report more often.

LORD INGLEWOOD

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply, so far as it goes, which really is not very far. May I ask him whether he does not recall the most unusual pressure which the Government put on the Select Committee last July, making them sit day after day, on the ground that it was urgent to complete the consideration of that Bill before we rose because hotels were going bankrupt and the pipeline was full of urgent applications for grants? Is it so unreasonable that the Government should now be asked to give Parliament the four simple figures referred to in my Question?

LORD BROWN

My Lords, if the Bill had not become an Act before the beginning of August it could not have become so until towards the end of October. A further month would have elapsed before the Board of Trade could take action towards appointing the chairman and others; and it is therefore very doubtful whether any applications for grant could have been dealt with before January. In these circumstances, I think it was completely reasonable to request the members of the Committee, as I did, to get the Bill through, so that it could become an Act before the Recess. I do not think it would be appropriate, having delegated to the Tourist Boards authority for the administration of the scheme, to begin belying that policy by immediately asking the Boards to report when the Act itself lays down that they shall report annually. There is nothing to prevent the Boards from reporting more frequently if they feel that that is the appropriate thing to do.

LORD NUGENT OF GUILDFORD

My Lords, would it not be much more appropriate to give hotel companies the benefit of investment grants? And would not that have the additional advantage that it would save the noble Lord from being questioned on the subject?

LORD BROWN

My Lords, I should like to avoid being questioned but, with great respect, that is quite a different matter. The proposal that hotels should receive investment grants has received a good deal of attention, but for the moment the protagonists have lost that one.

LORD SANDYS

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that his Department is the one in regard to which noble Lords have the greatest difficulty in obtaining a simple answer to a simple question?

LORD BROWN

My Lords, I am sorry, but I did not hear the beginning of the noble Lord's supplementary question.

LORD SANDYS

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that his Department is the one in regard to which noble Lords have the greatest difficulty in obtaining a simple answer to a simple question, particularly when it relates to figures and facts?

LORD BROWN

My Lords, I am very sorry, but I did not hear the key words at the beginning of the noble Lord's expression of the same question, and I am still doubtful as to what is the intention of the question.

LORD SANDYS

My Lords, for the third time—and I very much regret that I am so inaudible to the noble Lord—is he aware that noble Lords find that his Department is most unwilling to give information, and that it is the Department with which they have the greatest difficulty in dealing? I have personal experience in this matter.

LORD BROWN

My Lords, I am afraid that I cannot accept the generalisation.