§ Mr. Wyattasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any decision has yet been reached about the future of Cable and Wireless Limited.
§ Mr. DaltonYes, Sir. Cable and Wireless Limited will remain in being as a Government owned company and will continue to own the assets and to operate the telecommunication services outside the United Kingdom, apart from those to be owned and operated by the respective National Bodies in the Dominions, India and S. Rhodesia as decided at the recent Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference. Staff of the U.K. system working overseas will be employees of the Company. All the assets in the United Kingdom will be transferred to the Post Office and the services integrated with those of the Post Office.
The Company, as thus reconstructed, will work in close association with the Post Office. The Post Office will become the United Kingdom National Body, for the purpose of the arrangements agreed with the Partner Governments at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference in 1945. Further legislation will be necessary to put the new arrangements into effect, and it is not expected that they will be in force before 1949. In the meantime, the Company will continue to 319W operate as at present, under the Board of Directors recently appointed by the Government.
The Commonwealth Communications Council, which consists of representatives of the Partner Governments, is meeting in London at the beginning of March, when arrangements will be discussed for the exercise by the Council of as many as possible of the functions of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board, pending the establishment of the Board on the lines indicated in the White Paper (Cmd. 6805). My noble friend the Postmaster-General has taken over Ministerial responsibility for Cable and Wireless Limited.