HL Deb 17 July 1984 vol 454 cc1329-31

2.45 p.m.

Baroness Sharples

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current length of the waiting list for the installation of telephones and how this compares with the situation in 1979.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Cockfield)

My Lords, the waiting list on the accepted definition has been reduced from 196,154 as at 31st March 1979 to 337 as at 31st May 1984.

Baroness Sharples

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that very satisfactory reply. Can he say whether the rural services will continue to be maintained? Can he also say whether telephone kiosks, even if they prove uneconomic, will also be kept throughout the country?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, specific safeguards both for public call boxes and for rural areas are contained in Sections 3 and 8 of the Telecommunications Act and effect to these safeguards is given in Conditions 2 and 11 of the British Telecom licence, which will be the subject of debate in your Lordships' House tomorrow week.

Lord Somers

My Lords, is there any method of protecting telephone kiosks from the attacks of vandals?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, I am afraid that that is quite a different question from the one which appears on the Order Paper, but nevertheless an important one.

Lord Bruce of Donington

My Lords, would the noble Lord agree that the reply he gave to the original Question reflects very great credit indeed on this publicly-owned enterprise? Would he confirm that if a Question is put down in similar terms 12 months from now it will be answered by Her Majesty's Government?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, so far as the first part of the noble Lord's supplementary question is concerned, he will recall that on a number of occasions during our debates I paid tribute to the progress which had been made by British Telecom. This has been due, at least in some measure, to successive Acts of Parliament passed during the lifetime of the present Government which have done so much to induce a spirit of enterprise in the case of British Telecom. As regards answering Questions in the future about the activities of British Telecom when it becomes a private limited company, that will be subject to the general rules of your Lordships' House which will be found, inter alia, in the Companion to the Standing Orders.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, can the noble Lord comment on a point which is genuinely irritating many people? Is he aware that they would like to know how many nationals of foreign countries will now play a dominant role in the control of what we now know as British Telecom?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, this is going far wide of the Question on the Order Paper, but this matter was discussed at great length in the course of the debates on the Telecommunications Bill, as it then was, and I refer the noble Lord to what was said then.

Viscount St. Davids

My Lords, does the noble Lord have in mind the protections which were put into the Acts on the subject of railways, which finally resulted in those disgraceful vehicles which became a public joke—the parliamentary train? Will the noble Lord take great care that we do not have, as a further modern joke, the parliamentary telephone box?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, I am not an authority on the history of the early railways in the way that the noble Viscount is.

Lord Ferrier

My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that at this moment there is an element of transition about the whole practice of operating telephones?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, I do not entirely follow the point that my noble friend has in mind, but if there is a specific point to which he wishes to draw my attention I should be only too glad to discuss it with him.

Lord Glenamara

My Lords, will the noble Lord say whether he considers it a gain or a loss to democracy that British Telecom should become answerable to a body of shareholders rather than to both Houses of Parliament, as it is today?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, I think that the noble Lord misunderstands the position when he refers to British Telecom being answerable to both Houses of Parliament. The fact of the matter is that all experience shows that when an enterprise of this character is transferred to the private sector, its efficiency of operation improves.

Lord Glenamara

My Lords, will British Telecom, when it is privatised, report to Parliament, and will Members of Parliament be able to ask questions about it?

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, the noble Lord's question has nothing whatever to do with the Question on the Order Paper.

Lord Glenamara

My Lords, will the noble Lord nevertheless answer it? It has great bearing on the noble Baroness's Question and on her supplementary question.

Lord Cockfield

My Lords, if the noble Lord wishes to ask a question of this kind, perhaps he will place it on the Order Paper.

Lord Glenamara

My Lords, then the answer is no.