§ 78. Mr. G. Thomasasked the President of the Board of Trade how many directors, appointed by him to serve on the Wales and Monmouthshire Industrial Estates Company, are also fee-taking consultants in connection with these same estates.
§ Mr. HopkinsonI am informed by the company that no directors are paid fees as consultants in connection with the company's activities.
§ 79. Mr. G. Thomasasked the President of the Board of Trade what total sum of money has been paid out and is liable from 1945 to date to the major insurance company holding the main business of insurance cover, including fire, in connection with the Government-owned estates and associated factory sites in Wales; and whether he is aware that a director of the estates appointed by him is the sole agent and if, as a matter of policy, he will in future prohibit the holding of such agencies by directors whom he has appointed.
§ Mr. HopkinsonI am informed that since 1945 the insurance business of the Wales and Monmouthshire Industrial Estate Company has been placed through two firms of brokers with 11 different companies, that the company with which the largest share of the business has been placed received from a fifth to a quarter of the total, and that no director of the Estate Company is an agent for this insurance company. It is not the practice to disclose the amounts paid to individual companies. I am aware that 209W one of the directors of the Estate Company is also a local director of the insurance company to which the hon. Member refers but I am also informed that he declared his interest to the Estate Company before any business was placed. In the circumstances the last part of the Question does not arise.