§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are now in a position to announce the establishment of a study of the Ordnance Survey, and whether representative bodies and individuals have been invited to serve on the committee which will undertake this study.
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, my right honourable friend announced on 17th January that he had asked Sir David Serpell to chair a committee reviewing the Ordnance Survey and that he would be announcing the names of committee members very shortly.
Lord HUNTMy Lords, could the noble Baroness have surmised that I was aware of the Answer that she has just given and that I had kept my Question on the Order Paper in the light of its second part? By fixing a date or asking the committee which is to be set up to report early in 1979, is she aware that that inference of urgency will give great satisfaction to everyone who has been concerned about the future of the Ordnance Survey and who has been anxiously awaiting that decision? Will the Minister not agree that, with barely a year before the committee is expected to report, the complexity and thoroughness of the investigation with which that committee will be faced makes it imperative that the names of the committee 336 members should be announced not merely soon—as was stated in the Written Answer to a Question of the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton—but in the very immediate future? Is the noble Baroness prepared to give us a date for that announcement?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I accept the need for urgency in establishing the committee, and we hope that it will be able to present its report as we plan within the 12 months. Some of the formal invitations have already gone out; the remainder are expected to go out shortly. I regret that I cannot put a date on the word "shortly," but I hope that the noble Lord will accept my assurance that it will be very shortly, and we hope that the committee will soon get down to work. My hope then is that all noble Lords who have expressed concern about the Ordnance Survey will make sure that the committee knows their views.
§ Lord HAILSHAM of SAINT MARY-LEBONEMy Lords, irrespective of the necessity for this committee, does the noble Baroness agree that many people in this country—among whom I include myself—are very impressed by the excellence of the one-inch Ordnance Survey and of the 1:50,000 which has taken its place?
§ Baroness STEDMANYes, my Lords, I share the noble and learned Lord's concern about this and his appreciation of what the Ordnance Survey are doing at the moment.