§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade on how many occasions he received representations from the honourable Member for West Ham, North with regard to matters connected 288W with Intertel (V.T.R. Services) Limited, concerning their investment grants; on how many occasions his Department undertook to telephone the honourable Member; and on how many occasions telephone calls were made in fulfilment of these undertakings.
§ Mr. CroslandI have received two letters from the hon. Member and he has made a number of telephone calls. It is not our practice to keep a record of all telephone calls but during the last three months the hon. Member has received five letters on this subject and had three telephone conversations with senior officials. I can trace no occasion when any undertaking to telephone the hon. Member was not fulfilled, though there may have been occasions when it proved impossible to get in touch with him on a particular day.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade when he was first approached by Intertel (V.T.R. Services) Ltd. concerning their application for an investment grant, and on how many subsequent occasions; what were the dates, together with the dates of his replies; and how many phone calls were made regarding this question.
§ Mr. CroslandThe firm first enquired about investment grants in January, 1967. They submitted formal claims in July, 1967, and May, 1968, and wrote letters in August and November, 1967, and on three dates in June, 1968. Apart from acknowledgements, letters have been written to the company in May and September, 1967, and in May and June, 1968. Visits were paid to the company's premises in April and July, 1968. It is not our practice to keep a record of all telephone calls.