§ Mr. Rowlandsasked the Secretary of State for Energy, pursuant to his answer of 4 June, Official Report, column 53, why he did not publish in the Official Report the full text of the letter to the chairman of the British Gas Corporation as requested; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe hon. Member will be aware that it is not the practice, and was not the practice under the Government of which he was a member, to publish correspondence between Ministers and chairmen of nationalised industries. I have, however, sought to help him by describing the main content of my last letter on this subject to the chairman of British Gas in my reply to him on 4 June, and by referring him to my earlier reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) of 11 May.