§ Mr. Iain Millsasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a statement about the chairmanship of British Aerospace.
§ Sir Keith JosephDr. Austin Pearce, chairman and chief executive of Esso Petroleum Company Ltd. and a member of the board of British Aerospace since its establishment, has accepted my invitation to succeed Lord Beswick when he retires from the chairmanship of the board on 22 March 1980.
The appointment as chairman of British Aerospace is for a period of three years, or until the dissolution of the corporation, whichever is the earlier. It is the Government's intention that the corporation's undertaking should be vested in a Companies Act company in which shares will be sold to the public, and that Dr. Pearce should become chairman of that company.
I would like to thank Lord Beswick for his valuable service as chairman over the first three years of British Aerospace's existence. The corporation has had a most successful history since its formation and I am sure that the House would wish to pay tribute to the contribution which Lord Beswick has made to that success.