I would not dissent from that proposition. It is a valid and major role for them to fulfil. That is why most of the institutions themselves have welcomed the proposition within Finniston that the authority should have the role of encouraging joint activity between the institutions.

There has been surprising opposition to the other perfectly reasonable proposition in Finniston that the authority should also have the role of promoting mergers. Looking from outside at the institutions, we would all say that there has been a proliferation of them and that the fragmentation is difficult to understand. Some of the institutions that are opposed to the proposition of promoting mergers have misunderstood what that means in legislative terms.

Promotion can be persuasive or coercive. If it were coercive—if certain rights or grants were denied to those who refused to merge—I could understand the opposition to such a proposition, but my reading of the report—and I hope that the Minister will confirm it—is that the role of the authority would be actively to encourage, to remove obstacles where they need removing and to produce desirable mergers that were wanted by both parties. Many people are getting themselves in an unnecessary furore over this issue, and rather than full mergers it may well be that federations will provide a suitable formula. This will give the capability of joint activity and at the same time preserve individual identity.