§ 111. Mr. Stewardasked the Minister of Fuel and Power why the Government have fallen behind with their programme to meet the demand for electricity and what is the reason for their failure to achieve their own plans foreshadowed by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Economic Survey for 1948.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerAs was explained in the Economic Survey for 1949, the estimated rate of investment set out in the White Paper on Capital Investment in 1948, on which the figures in the Economic Survey for 1948 were based, resulted from an over-optimistic assessment of the speed with which the industries manufacturing electricity generating plant could expand their capacity. Moreover, at the date of publication of the White Paper in 1948, it was not possible to assess the extent of the delays which resulted from the lack of co-ordinated ordering and construction work before the electricity supply industry was nationalised.