§ Sir J. Mellorasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will reconsider the present procedure with regard to the publication of communications made to the Treasury by the Import Duties Advisory Committee, with a view to providing that the reasons relied upon by the committee for coming to a decision shall be fully disclosed in cases where the committee decides to make no recommendation upon an application as in cases where a positive recommendation is made?
§ Sir J. SimonThe Import Duties Act, 1932, provides that where the committee make any recommendation to the Treasury that recommendation must in due course be published. In cases where the committee decide not to make a recommendation there is not as a general rule any communication to the Treasury. In exceptional cases the committee may supply the Treasury, and other interested Government Departments, with a confidential memorandum, but, as I have already explained, it must be regarded as undesirable to publish memoranda of that kind.