§ 3.14 p.m.
Earl ALEXANDER of TUNISMy 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 action has been taken since the publication of the Carter Report on the Post Office and the debate on the report's recommendations in this House on 16th November 1977.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, the period of public consultation which followed publication of the Carter Report ended in December 1977. All the comments are now being examined, together with the views expressed in the debate in this House, and in due course the Government will publish their conclusions in a White Paper.
Earl ALEXANDER of TUNISMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply, and I should like to ask him one further question, about which I wrote to him yesterday. Should a strike by postal workers occur, could steps be taken to allow private carriers the right to deliver letters immediately the strike takes effect?
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Earl for giving advance notice of his supplementary question. However, it does not really apply to the Carter Report. If the noble Earl will put down another Question, I shall endeavour to answer it.
§ Baroness BURTON of COVENTRYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that many people in this House, and a great many of the general public outside, have greatly welcomed the attitude of Sir William Barlow since he became chairman of the Post Office? Is he also aware that I believe I speak for many people when I say that Sir William really seems to have a progressive attitude—and that customers do count?
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend for that very helpful remark.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, can the noble Lord explain why the Hull telephone service licence was recently renewed for only six months, and what is the nature of the reconsideration of the position in that connection of which the noble Lord informed me in a Written Answer last week?
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, the Carter Report makes no mention of the Hull privately owned telephone exchange. If the noble Lord cares to put down another Question, I shall endeavour to answer it.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, with respect to the noble Lord, I wish to point out that the debate on the 16th November did mention it, and that that is included in the Question on the Order Paper. Does the noble Lord not have the information?
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, the Question is on the Carter Report.
§ Lord ORR-EWINGMy Lords, will the noble Lord bear in mind that many conscientious people do a considerable amount of work to produce reports such as the Carter Report, and then there are months and sometimes years of delay before the recommendations are truly considered and implemented? Will he make it possible for a progress report to be given on how many of these recommendations have already been implemented by the admirable Sir William Barlow, and how many are still under consideration? We should like to have some progress after all the work that has been put into this report.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, I am certain that if the noble Lord will have a word with the usual channels we may find an opportunity for making a pr ogress report, but today is not the time.
§ Lord AIREDALEMy Lords, where the public corporation concerned has no Minister answerable for it to Parliament upon points of detail, is it too much to expect that the corporation, when its affairs are debated in either House, might go through the speeches and write to the individual Members dealing with the points of detail which they have raised in the debate?
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, that is a very interesting point because the general philosophy behind the relationship between Parliament and the nationalised industries is that the day-to-day operations of those industries are a matter for the industries themselves. I am certain that if any noble Lord writes to the chairman of a nationalised industry he will receive a courteous reply, and probably an informative one. But the conventions are that the day-to-day running is a job for the boss.
Lord HAWKEMy Lords, in the effort to create more jobs, in which the Government are now engaged, would it not be cheaper to hand money to the Post Office to employ people to provide the service to which we used to be accustomed, rather than spend vast sums of money creating rather unnecessary jobs?
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, surely at the moment we see that an attempt is being made to prevent featherbedding in any nationalised industry.