HC Deb 27 November 1952 vol 508 cc79-80W
87. Mr. C. Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will recommend the setting up of a committee to inquire into the financial relationship between Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom.

88. Mr. G. Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is now in a position to make an announcement as to the establishment of a committee to investigate the financial and economic relationship of Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom.

89. Mr. Watkins

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is now able to make a statement on the question of appointing a committee to examine the financial and economic relationship of Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

I have given very careful consideration to this matter in consultation with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The preparation of a separate return of Government revenue and expenditure in Wales is complicated by the fact that the boundaries of the Customs and Excise collections do not coincide with the Welsh Border. The publication of separate figures for Wales would therefore involve a much greater expenditure of manpower than the publication of separate figures for Scotland. The same considerations apply in regard to the collection of separate revenue statistics.

I have therefore come to the conclusion that, in the present period of acute financial stringency, the administrative expenditure and increase in Government staffs involved in the publication of a separate return for Wales would not be justified and that no useful purpose would be served by setting up a committee to consider the matter at the present time.

In so far as one object of a separate return would be to show the scope of Government services in Wales, I would point out that there is already much detailed information on this matter in the annual Report of Government Action in the Principality.

Mr. T. W. Jones

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to announce his decision on the subject of the creation of a committee to inquire into the financial and economic relations between Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave today to the hon. Members for Anglesey (Mr. C. Hughes), Caernarvon (Mr. G. Roberts) and Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Watkins).