Sir Edward Ashmore

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asked the Prime Minister why permission was granted in July to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Ashmore to take up full-time employment with RACAL, a firm engaged in military electronics with which the Ministry of Defence has contractual relations, within two years of leaving his post in Whitehall in August 1977.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Ashmore applied under the business appointments rules to take up a part-time appointment with Racal Limited. These rules were announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Huyton in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing North on 3rd July 1975, and a memorandum setting them out is in the Library. Sir Edward Ashmore's application was scrutinised by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, to which I refer cases at this level, and at least 3 months elapsed between his leaving office and taking up the Racal appointment. I am satisfied that Sir Edward Ashmore had had no official dealings with Racal Limited and that there is no suspicion of impropriety attaching to the appointment.

	Gas		Electricity
	Disconnections	Total disconnections as a percentage of total credit consumers	Disconnections	Total domestic disconnections as a percentage of average domestic credit consumers
Year:
1970–71	25,100^*	0·31	Not available	Not available
1971–7	27,400^*	0·32	Not available
1972–73	32,934^*	0·37	117,369^*
1973–74	32,701^*	0·35	113,778^*
1974–75	34,872^*	0·35	120,330^*
1975–76	39,842^*	0·37	125,483 (estimated †)	0·78
1976–77	38,951^*	0·34	103,941	0·64
1977–78	40,384†	0·35†	88,065	0·53
Quarter ending:
30th June 1972¶	8,229^*	Not available
30th September 1972	9,810^*
31st December 1972	8,085^*
31st March 1973	6,810^*
30th June 1973	9,953^*
30th September 1973	9,157^*
31st December 1973	6,333^*
31st March 1974	7,258^*
30th June 1974	9,106^*
30th September 1974	10,179^*
31st December 1974	7,919^*
31st March 1975	7,668^*
30th June 1975	11,703^*		35,730‡	0·22§
30th September 1975	13,997^*		35,560‡	0·22§
31st December 1975	7,831^*		30,210‡	0·19§
31st March 1976	6,311^*		23,983‡	0·15§
30th June 1976	9,642^*		31,941║	0·20§
30th September 1976	13,574^*		33,534║	0·21§
31st December 1976	9,408^*		24,873║	0·15§
31st March 1977	6,327^*		13,593║	0·08§
30th June 1977	9,835†		23,961║	0·15§
30th September 1977	13,480†		28,509║	0·17§
31st December 1977	9,694†		17,587║	0·11§
31st March 1978	7,375†		18,008║	0·1§
^* These figures include a small number of non-domestic disconnections.
† Domestic credit consumers only.
‡ Estimated centrally to revised definition.
§ Based on estimated figures of domestic credit consumers at quarter ends. These quarterly percentages are not available for gas.
║ From 1st April 1976 these figures are being collected on a revised basis to exclude those which do not relate to domestic premises in regular occupation such as holiday homes, premises to be demolished and industrial and commercial premises.
¶ If Quarterly figures for gas prior to quarter ending June 1972 are not available

Volume 955: debated on Thursday 3 August 1978