§ 64. Mr. Malcolm MacMillanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will increase substantially financed aid to the Scottish Tourist Board, thus freeing the Highlands and Islands Development Board from the need to spend its limited resources upon purely tourist projects, and enabling it to concentrate on increasing the production and material wealth of the Highlands and Islands region and on provision of assured and fully insurable employment for the local people in manufacturing industry in their own localities.
§ Mr. RossNo. I do not agree that the Highlands and Islands Development Board should be relieved of its important responsibilities towards developing one of the region's major industries, namely tourism. What the Highlands and Islands Development Board is doing for tourism is not limiting its other activities.
§ 65. Mr. Rankinasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what consultations the Highland Development Board had with him before deciding to finance research on the presence of unusual creatures in Loch Ness.
§ Mr. RossI would refer my hon. Friend to the Answer I gave to my hon. 277W Friend the Member for the Western Isles (Mr. Malcolm MacMillan) on 15th February.—[Vol. 741, c. 105.]