Welsh Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 11 February 1957.

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Photo of Mr David Llewellyn Mr David Llewellyn , Cardiff North 12:00, 11 February 1957

And elsewhere, yes.

Secondly, the Council's terms of reference are far too narrow for the recommendations to sustain very much weight. They are merely: To examine the machinery of Government administration in Wales, and to report. Those terms of reference expressly exclude all questions relating to local government administration and to the functioning of nationalised industries. They ignore absolutely all question of cost and, even worse, they do not seem to take account of the impact of their proposals upon the life of the community. It is all too easy to lose sight of those whom the Civil Service exists to serve, in the beauty of administrative patterns with an emotional appeal.

It was on 4th March, 1955, that this House, in its wisdom, rejected, by 48 votes to 14, a Bill for a Parliament for Wales. In that debate I asked for a Royal Commission on Welsh Administration to be set up to examine the working of each Government Department in Wales, with wide powers of recommendation. Broadly speaking, these are the Council's own terms of reference, which it set itself. Later in that debate, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Llanelly (Mr. J. Griffiths) criticised these terms as being too narrow. I believe that he was perfectly right.

The right hon. Gentleman said that the terms of reference ought to be those which were laid down for the Royal Commission on Scotland, which he then quoted, and of which I shall remind the House. Those terms were: To review with reference to the financial, economic, administrative and other considerations involved, the arrangements for exercising the functions of Your Majesty's Government in relation to Scotland. The right hon. Gentleman said that, substituting "Wales" for "Scotland," he thought "that would do. "I agree. I really am astonished by the credulity of some Welshmen, who, like inverted Jonahs, have swallowed this whale of a Report so readily.