asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs what progress has been made on plans for a permanent prices, incomes and productivity policy; and whether he will make a statement.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs whether he will now make a statement on the Government's intentions in relation to the prices and incomes policy.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs whether it is now his intention to seek further powers for the regulation of wages and prices when those under Part IV of the Prices and Incomes Act 1966, lapse this summer.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs what progress he has made in producing a long-term prices, productivity, and incomes policy; and what steps he is taking to ensure adequate control of prices and profits.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's proposals on the future development of the prices and incomes policy.

I would refer my hon. Friend to my statement yesterday and to the White Paper (Cmnd. 3235).

Is my right hon. Friend aware that among most hon. Members there is a conviction that a planned prices, incomes and productivity policy is an essential part of an integrated streamlined economy; that we believe that in a democratic society Government have a rightful part to play in this operation and that this policy must effectively cover the whole range of prices, including rents?

I would not dissent there at all. My hon. Friend will find that there is a section on rents in the White Paper.

Can we have an assurance that the Government intend to do all they can to maintain this as a voluntary rather than a compulsory policy? Will the Government also give the assurance that they will mend their ways and use the management of the economy as the chief means of keeping prices and wages in relation to productivity and not rely exclusively, or mainly, on the incomes policy?

As to the hon. Gentleman's first point, the Government's view of the desirability of the voluntary element in policy is made quite clear in the White Paper. As to his second point, it has also been made clear that one cannot regard a prices and incomes policy as the sole instrument of economic policy; but I think that there are at least equal dangers in under-estimating its importance and relying on what the hon. Gentleman calls the "management of the economy", which might mean simply trying to get out of difficulties by having widespread unemployment.

Does the First Secretary recall that he justified his incomplete and inadequate statement yesterday by saying that it was necessary so that negotiations could take place? Can he explain how negotiations between employers and workers can effectively take place if neither party knows whether the Government intend to take power to frustrate agreements, as the Government did last summer?

There is no question of taking power to frustrate agreements. Exceptional measures were taken last summer, which it would not be necessary to repeat. The reason why discussion is still necessary is that it is discussion on what the powers and place of the Government, the trade unions and management should be.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the majority of us on this side of the House completely accept the Government's operation of the prices and incomes policy and completely reject the jungle society of the party opposite? Is he further aware that we feel that the key to the success of such a policy is firm Government action to control and reduce prices?

I am obliged to my hon. Friend. I think that the view he expresses is very widely shared with the country as a whole. On the latter part of his supplementary question, he will notice the effective action that has been taken on prices so far and what is said particularly about price reductions in the White Paper.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that some of us who have hitherto opposed the Government's prices and incomes policy might support a prices and incomes policy that was concerned with a combined operation designed to secure consistent economic growth with a major income redistribution in society?

That, I think, is what we must work for. In my statement yesterday, I tried to set forth the thesis that the prices and incomes policy had had to mean standstill and severe restraint during these periods, but that that is not its permanent nature. Its permanent nature, combined with other instruments of economic policy, is to bring about the result my hon. Friend has in mind.

Referring to Question No. 8, may I ask whether there is any pressure which makes it necessary to control prices? Is not the problem today rather more one of industry trying to maintain its profitability?

It is true, of course, that profits have felt the effects of recent events, but I think it is quite certain that one could not hope to exercise an incomes policy effectively if profits could become excessive.

Why does paragraph 8 of the White Paper propose the lapsing on 30th June of the existing general request for advance notification of price increases? Why is the White Paper in general much more tender and much less direct and effective about prices than about incomes? Will my right hon. Friend accept it from me that we shall start to believe what he says about control of prices when we spend as many evenings in the House debating price control Orders as we have been spending debating wage control Orders?

During the period of standstill and severe restraint there has built up an effective mechanism of notication of price increases between manufacturers, trade associations, and the Government Departments concerned. It will be necessary to make quite certain that the sufficient degree of voluntary notification of prices continues. There are references at the end of the White Paper to the action the Government might have to take in certain circumstances about that. As to the comparative number of price and wage control Orders, I think my hon. Friend will accept that the wisdom with which a policy was being applied could not possibly be measured simply by looking at the comparative number of Orders. I invite my hon. Friend to look at what has happened to the index number of retail prices, which shows that we have exercised an effective and general control.

Further to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr. St. John-Stevas), would not the First Secretary of State agree that if the wages bill is to rise by 6 per cent. this year and if output is likely to rise by only 2 per cent., very considerable other measures will be needed besides prices and incomes policy if stability is to be anything like maintained?

These figures are estimates. They must not be taken as absolutely precise prophecies. I made it clear yesterday that this is a cause for concern and it involves the need for both firm maintenance of prices and incomes policy and of other measures, particularly the promotion of economic growth.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that many of us who very staunchly supported the Government, in the House and outside, in their prices and incomes policy, while we might accept that the notification of price increases is effective, are not convinced that the control of price increases is yet effective?

If my hon. Friend will look at what has happened and at the figures, I am sure he will agree that there is not ground for much doubt on his part. It is not possible now, as it was in time of war, to exercise an exact price-fixing arrangement over the whole field. It is possible to see that the general level of prices is kept reasonable.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs how many Dorset candidates, apart from the nomination of the county council, were considered for membership of the South-West Economic Development Council and rejected.

Members of the regional economic planning councils are not selected on a county basis.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that Dorset is not a mere adjunct of the counties to the west and north and has many special affinities with the southern counties? Is he further aware that there is resentment, not only in Dorset but in other counties, about these important appointments and doubt as to whether they are really democratic?

We have a great many nominations for these appointments and we have to make what seems to be the wisest selection. It would be invidious to start giving reasons why some people were selected and others inevitably were not. I think the hon. Gentleman will agree that if we started out by saying that we must select from counties proportionately to population we should not get the best kind of council.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if outside management consultants have examined the work of his Department.

No, Sir.

Would not the hon. Gentleman agree upon the vital importance of his Department's setting a very good example where it is pronouncing on over-manning and bad productivity in industry as a whole? If he thinks that the D.E.A. is efficient, which many people do not, would it not be better to prove it by allowing an outside firm to comment upon the level of manning and efficiency within it?

The desire to oversee overseers is a respectable antiquity, but the particular method proposed in this case is not appropriate.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs whether he will take the necessary steps to ensure that those firms which increased their prices due to petrol tax will now reduce them following petrol price reductions.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport (Mr. Roy Hughes) on 13th March indicating that a watch will be kept on this by the Government Departments concerned.—[Vol. 743, c. 15.]

Is my right hon. Friend aware that, if a prices and incomes policy is to succeed, it is essential that cost reductions are carried to the consumer, but that all too often in the past increases in costs have not been absorbed by greater efficiency and productivity but have merely served to increase prices and profits?

There is a great deal in what my hon. Friends says. In the criteria set out in the White Paper yesterday we take this point very much into account.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs whether he will now seek the guidance of regional economic councils on the effect of entry into the European Economic Community upon regional planning and regional policies.

At this stage, No, Sir.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that those of us who wish to secure acceptable terms for entry into the European Economic Community are still concerned about the effect of this on regional policies? Does not my right hon. Friend agree that it is essential to undertake a survey of the effect which entry would have on peripheral areas such as Scotland, Wales and the north of England?

The question of regional policies has been under consideration. A study of the regional policies pursued in countries already in the European Economic Community shows that theirs and ours have much in common.

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that the regional policies pursued within the Community have been remarkably effective and that this country has quite a lot to learn from the regonal policies within Europe?

This may well be so.

Would not my right hon. Friend also agree that areas like Calabria and Sardegna do not give us any great cause to believe that if we enter the Common Market those of our regions which are suffering from lower wage levels will necessarily benefit to the extent that very highly industrialised areas will?

That is a rather different question. I do not think that I can answer questions about Calabria. I simply repeat that regional policies in certain countries of the Community are a matter of considerable interest to us. We may be able to learn from them, and they make it clear that membership of the Community and regional policies are not incompatible.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if he will seek to amend the Prices and Incomes Act, 1966, so as to prevent the Chairman of the National Board for Prices and Incomes from making public statements on controversial matters.

No, Sir.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that trade unionists are much concerned about the unfortunate intervention by the Chairman of the National Board for Prices and Incomes in urging permanent legislation to control wages, and this at a time when democratic negotiations were being conducted between the Government and both sides of industry?

The attitude of trade unions and employers to the Board will be determined by the character of the Board's reports. Their character has been very widely recognised. If an attempt were made to impose more limitations than are absolutely necessary on the freedom of people who do public work, we should not get the best service.

Would it not be better for the Chairman of the Board to give fewer public sermons and make a few more fairer reports than the one the Board has been responsible for on drapery workers?

That is a further question.

Surely the First Secretary of State recognises that it is not so much a question of limitations on the Chairman of the Board as of making him and, indeed, the leaders of other outside bodies which the Government have set up accountable to this House and to Parliament?

I do not think this can be so. If moderate government is to be carried on at all, either by this Government or any successor, there must be considerable use of people who will give public service on what the hon. Gentleman refers to as "outside bodies". If they are to be pursued every time they make a speech, we shall not get competent people to do the job.

Does not the Secretary of State think that this Board, and particularly perhaps its Chairman, are in danger of being considered merely as an adjunct of the Government? Does he not think that the work he has put upon them already is quite out of keeping with the Board's composition, with the secretariat, the machinery available to it and so on? Will the right hon. Gentleman in his future legislation take into account the fact that it would be wildly inappropriate to give extra powers to this Board in conjunction, if he is thinking of it, with an extended Part II?

The right hon. Gentleman is on a rather different tack from the previous questioners. It would look even more as if the Board were an adjunct of the Government if I were to attempt to give orders to the Chairman about what speeches he should or should not make. That is exactly the point that I was making.

Would my right hon. Friend not agree that the nature of the work of the Prices and Incomes Board is that of a quasi-judicial character in its relationship to wage claims and the inquiries that it is making? Therefore, it is most unfortunate that the Chairman of the Board should make statements about extra powers that he feels the Board might need, or even statements which might prejudge issues which come before the Prices and Incomes Board.

This is a matter on which, after all, very large numbers of people have expressed opinions—people in all sorts of positions—and I am reluctant to attempt to impose more restrictions than are absolutely necessary on the freedom to speak of people who do public work.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs when he expects to receive the Report of the National Board for Prices and Incomes on the claim for increased salaries put forward by the joint negotiating committees for clerks of local authorities and chief officers.

My right hon. Friend does not expect this Report before the middle of this year.

Will the Minister agree that this is an urgent matter? Does he not think that it is unfair and unreasonable to deny to chief officers and their deputies any increase in salary when their juniors in local government have been enjoying an increased award since 1st February?

Yes, but this reference refers to a very wide range indeed of professional people. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman and the people concerned would rather have a detailed report well worthy of the reference than a hurried one.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, if, in view of the fact that merit awards in industry cause anxiety to all workers, particularly to non-manual workers, inasmuch as they lead to general depressing of wages and salaries, he will give an assurance that Her Majesty's Government will not seek to introduce such a system.

Subject to the requirements of the prices and incomes policy, the extent of such arrangements is for industry itself to determine.

Is my hon. Friend aware that so-called merit awards are used by employers to detract from legitimate trade union claims and to discourage trade union membership, particularly so in the case of non-manual white-collar workers?

I have had some dealings with this kind of thing myself. I would not have thought it was true that it in any way militates against the agreements that trade unions negotiate. I know that at times there can be the feeling that one or two people are blue-eyed boys when they get this type of award, but this is not an issue which we should seek to take out of the hands of employers and trade unions.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs when he now expects to produce a revised version of the National Plan for the next five years.

I have nothing to add to the reply my hon. Friend the Joint Under-Secretary gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield, West (Mr. Lomas) on 23rd February.—[Vol. 741, c. 327.]

Is it the right hon. Gentleman's intention this winter to have another industrial inquiry similar to the one that was undertaken before the last National Plan? If that is carried out, will he not give industry a fixed target growth rate and seek to develop economic formulæ similar to those which have been introduced by the Central Electricity Generating Board to produce estimates of future electricity demand so that the plans of industry can be adjusted to what the actual growth rate is and not the projection?

Preliminary studies of likely trends in the economy are being carried out and I hope shortly to be able to provide the House with some account of the considerations that arise and the way in which we are approaching the problem, and then to deal with the point which the hon. Member has just raised. Some form of inquiry certainly will be necessary, and we propose to establish, in consultation with industry, how that can best be done.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that regional development and planning, as they are outlined in the National Plan, are not working satisfactorily in Scotland? Will my right hon. Friend take that fact into account and see whether these two proposals can be activated more obviously?

Nobody would dispute that Scotland has its problems, but if my hon. Friend will look at the movement of unemployment figures in Scotland and in the United Kingdom as a whole in recent months, he will see that it would be quite wrong to say that regional policies have not brought any benefit to Scotland.

Does not experience with the last National Plans show that it is quite hopeless to seek to produce such a document unless and until the Government have got a clear and reliable idea of what the rate of economic growth is going to be?

I mentioned that studies are going on about this, and I hope before long to be able to tell the House a little more about it.

Is not the National Plan now dead and done with? How can a corpse be revived?

When the hon. Member says things like that, he only shows how completely out of touch he is with both sides of industry today.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if, in view of the difference of opinion between the Drapery Wages Council and the National Board for Prices and Incomes on pay, he intends to make an Order restraining the drapery employers from paying more wages.

The question of use of Part IV of the Prices and Incomes Act does not arise at present. The employers concerned are not under any statutory obligation to pay more. The Wages Council's proposals are under consideration by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that we have here a statutory council whose duty it is to protect low wage earners in conflict with a non-statutory board's report? In order to make any sense of this situation, he will have to reform the rôle of wages councils if he intends to persevere with his incomes policy in this form. What does he intend to do about it?

I do not dispute that there is a point in what the hon. Gentleman says, but the question of this Report by the National Board for Prices and Incomes has been discussed with the employers and unions concerned by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour.

Is my hon. Friend aware of the deep concern which many people in the labour and trade union movement have about the Board's Report on drapery workers? Would he consider that it is right and just that people who earn just over £13 a week should have no increase? Would members of the Board like to live on that sort of wage?

In its Report the Board gives the reasons for its decision. It is a matter of opinion as to whether the decision was right or not, but we should not seek on every report to prejudge whether the criterion that they are using is correct.

Would not my hon. Friend agree that the Board's Report in this case underlines one of the main weaknesses of the White Paper, namely the failure of the Department or of the Board to try to define with more precision what a lower-paid worker is? Until we get this definition we cannot have a successful basis upon which we can build a pyramid of negotiations.

I agree that this is a great problem. The complexities of the wage structures are such that we could have people with ostensibly pretty high rates but who, in fact, are lower paid than those whose basic rates are lower than theirs. The Board in two or three of the reports that it has issued, for instance on agriculture and on retail drapery, has given us some lead on what constitutes "lowest paid", but as yet, I agree, we have not got a complete definition.

asked the Postmaster-General what consultations he has had with the British Broadcasting Corporation concerning interference with the reception in Shrewsbury and other places of BBC-1 as a result of sporadic E.

The Television Advisory Committee, on which the broadcasting authorities are represented, has studied this problem but concluded that there is no short-term solution. However, the duplicate transmissions of BBC-1 and independent television on 625 lines in UHF will not be liable to this interference.

Will the hon. Gentleman take it from me that reception of television in this county is not satisfactory on the whole, and will he consult the B.B.C. and local authorities with a view to having a booster station put at a suitable place very soon?

All this has been before the B.B.C. This sporadic interference, which comes from the Continent, is caused by television stations which are approximately 700 to 1,200 miles away, and the quantity of interference is liable to increase as the number of television stations grows. The suggestion regarding a booster station is under consideration.

rose—

I apologise for the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mr. Fowler). I did not see him rise on Question No. 22, which concerned Shropshire.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will now give the location of the remaining six local radio stations.

asked the Postmaster-General how many local authorities applied to be considered to establish local radio stations; how many have made firm applications following the conference with the officials of the British Broadcasting Corporation; and what local authorities have been selected to establish local stations.

The B.B.C. tells me that 76 towns registered with it varying degrees of interest in the experiment. Eighteen have registered with the Corporation applications for a station. I have already announced the names of the first three places selected to take part in the experiment. The next four stations will be at Brighton, Manchester, Nottingham and Stoke-on-Trent. More time is needed before the locations of the remaining two stations are decided on, because some of the applications require further discussion between the B.B.C. and the local interests concerned.

Will my right hon. Friend tell the House how long the experimental period for local radio will be so that other areas which have not been brought in either in the four or the next two can look forward to a time when they can be considered again for local radio?

I expect to be able to evaluate the experiment at the end of about 12 months.

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the claims of the new county borough of Tees-side, one of the most rapidly developing areas, and will he postpone his choice until the new county borough has had a chance to make its position clear on the matter?

I understand my hon. Friend's point of view. I believe that the elections for the new county borough will come in April and the borough will start functioning in May. It may well be May before we can decide on the location of the remaining two stations.

When will the Postmaster-General be in a position to tell the House what the local interest of chambers of trade and other bodies will be in the new four stations or even the three he has already announced?

The hon. Gentleman has some Questions down about that for next week.

Is the Postmaster-General entirely satisfied that the finance for future maintenance of these new stations will be forthcoming in the areas covered by his announcement?

That is one of the purposes of the experiment. If we knew that that was assured, we would not need an experiment. It is one of the reasons for having it.

Is it not a fact that, with only two stations to come, there are still some major omissions, notably the Greater London area—where many Members would like at least to be able to hear a station in operation—Scotland and, of course, any rural area?

This is a nine-station experiment. When we have all the nine, there will still be some omissions.

asked the Postmaster-General if, pending his examination of proposals that women should be recruited as established postwomen on the same basis as men, he will give parity to women presently employed on this work when considering staffing and establishment.

I will certainly consider this; but it may not be quite as simple as it looks.

First, can my right hon. Friend say when his review will be completed? Second, does he agree that post-women who have worked satisfactorily for over 20 years, as one of my constituents has, should be treated in the same way as men? Third, if his review produces a satisfactory outcome, may we have an assurance that early reconsideration will then be given to the position of post-women who are now adversely affected by the present regulations?

On the first point, I cannot say when the review will be completed. On the second, we are considering whether women can be regarded on a permanent basis as suitable for all the duties and attendances which postmen carry out throughout the country, and also whether they can be promoted to supervisory posts in the same way as men.

asked the Postmaster-General why parcels posted in Birmingham on Monday, 6th March for delivery in the area of Wellington, Shropshire, took five days to reach their destinations.

In all probability, these parcels were delayed by initial difficulties at British Railways' new depot opened recently at Curzon Street, Birmingham. These difficulties have now been overcome. British Railways have expressed regret for any inconvenience caused.

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply, but will he assure the House that if this should recur he will take prompt action to raise the matter with British Railways and ensure that parcels arrive the day after they are posted?

Yes, Sir; wherever we receive complaints or protests of this kind, the matter is taken up with British Railways, but one must bear in mind that this was an extensive reorganisation and some teething troubles were expected at the time.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that, in addition to the trouble on the parcels service, there has been a deterioration over recent years in the postal services as a whole to Shrewsbury and to Wellington? Will he look into it, as it seems that the service is becoming slower and slower?

Yes, Sir.

asked the Postmaster-General if he has examined the evidence supplied to him by the hon. Member for Antrim, South, of complaints made by members of the Antrim Rural District Council with regard to postal services in Antrim; what investigations he has made into this problem; and what action he proposes to take.

I am looking into the complaints the hon. and learned Gentleman has sent and will write to him.

The representatives who made this criticism in public will be grateful for that investigation. Is the hon. Gentleman aware that they are responsible people who gave detailed criticism of the services?

Inquiries were started at once, but it was not possible to contact some of the councillors to obtain further information about their complaints. We have this morning received information, and this is now being considered.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science by what authority negotiations on teachers' salaries have been suspended.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the suspension of negotiations on teachers' salaries in the Burnham Committee pending an announcement of Government policy on incomes after 1st July, 1967.

My right hon. Friend told the associations represented on the Burnham Primary and Secondary Committee when he saw them yesterday that, following publication of the Command Paper setting out the Government's incomes policy for the period from 1st July onwards, they could arrange a meeting after Easter in the assurance that the management panel would then be able to respond to the teachers' panel's claim.

First, have any other group of people had their negotiations postponed, as opposed to having an award postponed, as a result of the Government's prices and incomes policy? Second, can the hon. Lady say whether, when the negotiations have been completed, the award will be back-dated to 1st April, when the teachers should have had their pay increase?

I cannot answer all the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question without notice, particularly as it relates to all other groups in the community. My knowledge on this subject is not as wide as that.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the general policy of his Department towards the provision of places for overseas students at British universities and centres of higher education.

My right hon. Friend made his views clear in the debate on 23rd February. The decision on admission of individual students is a matter for the institution concerned.

Does my hon. Friend agree that there is an inherent value in an international environment in further education and that recent reports of Ministerial statements have given rise to widespread misgiving that there is a short-sighted and Little Englander attitude towards further education growing in Britain?

I ask my hon. Friend to accept my assurance that there is great sympathy with the concept of a university as having an international function to perform, and I would certainly want to see overseas students contributing greatly to that atmosphere.

Will my hon. Friend prepare a recosting of the cost of overseas students in British universities based on a more realistic assessment than the method at present used of dividing total maintenance costs by the total number of students, which does not give the true marginal cost per student, and will she revise her policy in the light of that?

I shall bear that suggestion in mind.

My hon. Friend will recall that, when the Secretary of State spoke, he referred to vacancies in African and Asian universities which were not taken up by students in those countries. Can she say what research has gone into that and the comparable places available in British universities and technical institutions which are not available in African and Asian institutions, and whether there are—

Order. Supplementary questions, even on the last day, should be brief.

I should need notice to answer that question fully. There has been some indication from overseas university representatives that there are vacancies in undergraduate positions in such universities and institutions, but I think that, broadly speaking, it is postgraduate facilities which, above all, are lacking overseas.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will make a statement on his talks with General Steinhoff on the subject of possible German purchase of an Anglo-French variable geometry aircraft.

General Steinhoff visited in this country firms associated with the AFVG and with the Jaguar and took the opportunity to have talks with the Air Staff also.

Does not the proposed sale of the AFVG aircraft to the Western Germans face the Soviet Union with the most provocative challenge the West could, in its folly, devise: a nuclear force which includes, and might be dominated by, Western Germany?

No, Sir. My hon. Friend should think about it rather as a consideration of the replacement for the F104. Arrangements inside N.A.T.O. have in that case been made satisfactorily over a number of years.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the petro-chemical complex proposed by the Highland Development Board in the Invergordon area will be eligible for grants or loans; what agencies are conducting studies and negotiations related to it; whether it is connected with Invergordon Chemical Enterprises Limited; and if he will make a statement.

I explained in my reply to the hon. Member for Ross and Cromarty (Mr. Alasdair Mackenzie) on 3rd March that no firm proposal has yet been put to the Government. I am not therefore able to say whether any particular proposal that may yet come forward would qualify for assistance.

That was rather a long reply. Will the Minister state definitely whether he is aware of any agreement between the British company named and the American company, Occidental, which is in consultation with the Highlands and Islands Development Board on this matter?

If the hon. Gentleman reads my reply, he will see that I tried to meet the points in the Question, and that that Question is answered there.

It has been widely stated in the Press that my right hon. Friend will make a statement on the matter today. Was his reply just now his statement, or can I wait on the statement which I assume will come after Questions?

I have undertaken to make a statement, and I shall do so after Questions.