§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will cause an investigation to be made into the reasons why it took his Department 10 minutes to reply to a telephone call at 3.15 p.m. on Friday, 30th April, 1971; and whether he will take action to ensure that such calls are acknowledged in periods less than 10 to 15 minutes.
§ Mr. John DaviesI am sorry about this delay. The switchboard has been overloaded but the work of extending it is virtually completed and I expect the service to improve.