Mr Norman Fowler: I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Will he make it crystal clear that any consortium bidding for a local radio commercial licence will have to show the capability and the aim of providing a good news service? Does he agree that local newspapers are in a particularly strong position to do this?
Mr Norman Fowler: asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications what representations he has received so far during 1972 on the need for an independent broadcasting council.
Mr Norman Fowler: Does my right hon. Friend recognise that there is great public concern over this matter? Is it not extraordinarily ironic that an organisation like the B.B.C. should be so keen to put everybody else under independent scrutiny but so unwilling to submit to the same treatment itself?
Mr Norman Fowler: To ask the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications whether he is yet in a position to make a statement on his discussions with the Post Office about the rise in the demand for new telephones.
Mr Norman Fowler: Is my right hon. Friend aware that his new efforts to meet the demand for telephones will be widely welcomed, as will the news that charges for calls will not be increased? When does he expect the public to start benefiting from the increased investment he has just announced?
Mr Norman Fowler: asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on Great Britain's relations with Malta.
Mr Norman Fowler: While not wanting to press my right hon. Friend at this stage of the negotiations, may I ask whether he would not agree that the terms offered to Malta are not only in the interests of Britain and N.A.T.O. but also in the best long-term interests of Malta itself and that it would be a tragedy above all for Malta if those terms were rejected?
Mr Norman Fowler: asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much money was devoted by his Department to treatment and research into the problems of alcoholism in the years 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Norman Fowler: I congratulate my hon. Friend on the increase in the amount of resources devoted to research. Would he not agree that the problems of alcoholism raise a very serious social problem on lines very similar to the much more publicised problem of drugs? Therefore, would he not also agree that it is very important that we should progressively devote more of our resources to research in this area?
Mr Norman Fowler: Is my right hon. Friend aware that there is particular public concern about the portrayal of violence on television? Does he agree that this is a question not only of research but of day-by-day reviewing of programmes? Is not this another argument for an independent broadcasting council?
Mr Norman Fowler: Would my right hon. Friend not agree that the 1971 recruiting figures are exceptionally good and give real hope for an end to the police shortage? Would he not also agree that they show how correct it was for the Government to reverse the disgraceful policy of the last Labour Government in restricting police recruiting?
Mr Norman Fowler: Does my right hon. Friend also agree that although no one wants to discourage genuine complaints, the vast majority of complaints made against the police today are both trivial and groundless?
Mr Norman Fowler: Therefore, could my right hon. Friend examine ways in which the burden on the police can be reduced in dealing with that category of complaints?
Mr Norman Fowler: Before the hon. Gentleman leaves the point he is making, which is that newspaper interest in television is harmful, because that is what he said, would he not agree that in fact the newspaper interest in television companies has had no effect upon the editorial independence of those television companies, and that is surely the crucial point?
Mr Norman Fowler: Is my hon. Friend suggesting that all that was meant in the manifesto was that newspapers would have the same opportunity as anyone else to compete for a part in the consortia which competed for commercial radio. If that is the case, it is difficult to see why it was there in the first place.
Mr Norman Fowler: Like the majority on this side of the House I rise in support of the new Clause. Perhaps I should declare an interest because I was a working journalist before coming into the House although I was not a newspaper owner. The first reason I would express my support is because of the pledge that the Government made. It has always been understood that local newspapers would have an opportunity...
Mr Norman Fowler: If the hon. Member, before he jumps to the conclusion that this has nothing to do with the Clause, will try to follow my argument for a brief period he will see I wish to make one particular point. If we were dealing with a situation of perfect competition there would be no reason for giving newspapers a particular advantage. If everyone and anyone was able to open a local radio station there...
Mr Norman Fowler: I take the point. Basically, I support the provision as a transitional move to get the system off the ground for the immediate three-year period. It is sensible, first, because it provides the system with the experience it otherwise would not have and, secondly, because of the pledges already made. I hope that the system and the way it operates, particularly the journalistic side, will be...
Mr Norman Fowler: It is not exactly the point I was making, but I will examine what the hon. and learned Gentleman says. The point I am making is that I believe that the new commercial radio system should be a quality system. It should have within it journalistic expertise, and I ask my right hon. Friend to keep under review whether that journalistic expertise is necessarily by definition always to be provided...
Mr Norman Fowler: If I may use the same Yorkshire analogy, is any difficulty experienced between Yorkshire Television and the Yorkshire Post which has a holding in Yorkshire Television, and does any conflict of interest arise when stories are used in one or other medium?