HC Deb 08 October 1946 vol 427 cc25-6W
135. Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyre

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the salaries paid to members of Regional Coal Boards.

Mr. Shinwell

These Divisional Boards are not statutory bodies and are not appointed by me. They are appointed by the National Coal Board as part of its managerial staff. Under the Coal Nationalisation Act the National Coal Board is given full freedom by Parliament to settle its own organisation and the terms on which it engages staff, in the same way as other statutory and commercial undertakings, and I have no official responsibility or information in the matter. While I am responsible for deciding the salaries of the members of the National Coal Board itself and have reported these to Parliament, I made it clear during the passage of the Bill that I did not intend to interfere with the discretion of the Board in its organisation and administrative arrangements for carrying out the duties entrusted to it and that my power was accordingly limited to that of giving general directions. I have no intention of giving general directions on such matters as the salaries the Board should pay to their staff, which under the Act is essentially a matter for them to decide themselves.