Sir Keith Joseph: May I ask for the indulgence of the House on this, the first time that I have had the honour to speak in this Chamber? I am fortunate enough to represent the constituency of Leeds, North-East, where so many of those who work in other parts of that great and famous "city of a hundred industries" have their homes. All my constituents are, of course, concerned with the health of the economy and...
Sir Keith Joseph: rose—
Sir Keith Joseph: I am grateful to the hon. Member for Reading (Mr. Mikardo) for letting me in. In making his claim, would he not admit that a recent publication by the Government shows that there were two periods during which wages and prices kept parallel, one being during the time of Sir Stafford Cripps and the other being immediately after the Conservative Government came into power, which seems to make...
Sir Keith Joseph: asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will direct the Administration of Enemy Property Department to delay the distribution of former Hungarian and Roumanian assets, in order to avoid the injustice of irretrievably depriving of their own property those victims of Nazi persecution who have complied with every condition prescribed by the said Department for the release of their...
Sir Keith Joseph: While thanking my right hon. Friend for his obvious awareness of the human tragedies behind this situation, may I ask whether he thinks that the creditors, many of whom, although perfectly legitimately, are several stages removed from the original transactions with Hungary and Rou-mania, would not press their claim so hard if they realised that a large part of their hoped-for dividend would...
Sir Keith Joseph: Even if one can assume the fantasy on which the hon. Gentleman bases his calculations, surely he realises that anybody who buys a house reduces his own resources as a result. This is not in the least inflationary; this is an exchange.
Sir Keith Joseph: I should first explain that although I am director of a company owning housing accommodation, and of a building company, I have no interest to declare, as the first company ranks as an housing association and the building company builds no houses for itself. I should like to refer to something about which the hon. Member for Aston (Mr. J. Silverman) spoke at the beginning of his speech. No...
Sir Keith Joseph: I am grateful to the hon. Lady, and of course I know the property to which she refers. Surely she is not trying to describe as bad landlordism a case where it has not been possible, because of war and licensing, to do decent repairs. But I am trying to direct the attention of the House to the problem of under-occupation and, without making any party point, I say that both sides recognise this...
Sir Keith Joseph: It seems to me that this Bill will create a free market in housing accommodation which will give such a person ample alternatives at cheaper rents, though possibly not so much accommodation and possibly accommodation not in such good condition. This Bill will achieve that. That is its purpose. By this Measure, people who have under-occupied housing space at a controlled rent will have to...
Sir Keith Joseph: I cannot follow the hon. Member for Houghton-le-Spring (Mr. Blyton) in all the points he so quickly raised, but I should like to stand up for the liberalisation of trade which the Government have so properly carried out. In his last two points, the hon. Member was against that liberalisation. First, he blamed the Government for allowing the Americans to buy the Trinidad Oil Company when it...
Sir Keith Joseph: I, for one, am very much in sympathy with the principle of an increase in Members' salaries, but there is an element in them which is completely absent in nationalised board members' salaries. In the case of the salaries of Members of Parliament, there is the question of appearing to the public as the paymaster increasing his own pay. This element does not appear in the case of nationalised...
Sir Keith Joseph: To become a Member of Parliament or a member of a nationalised board is in each case a voluntary undertaking, but we know that members of nationalised boards are bid for by other purchasers. Can one say that Members of Parliament are bid for by other purchasers?
Sir Keith Joseph: The plea for higher salaries for top management is not the only recommendation of the Herbert Committee to which I wish to draw attention. The Herbert Committee, quite rightly, pointed out that middle management and technical staffs have their salaries compressed between the very properly increased wages and salaries at the lower end of the scale and the fixed salaries of the board members....
Sir Keith Joseph: I am obliged to the hon. Gentleman. I am not in a position to question that. I do not even know when that occurred.
Sir Keith Joseph: I thank the hon. Gentleman. There are two other omissions from the Bill, though recommendations of the Herbert Report, to which I should like to draw attention. The first is in connection with the relative failure of the electricity boards to encourage and to maximise the use of work study and other modern techniques for cutting unit costs. Obviously, we cannot legislate to insist upon work...
Sir Keith Joseph: I quite agree with the hon. Gentleman, but I am sure he would recognise that men good enough to be offered these top jobs might well be seduced away by private enterprise for higher salaries.
Sir Keith Joseph: asked the Minister of Health how many deaths there were from diphtheria in 1955; and how many of those who died had made full use of the available injections.
Sir Keith Joseph: asked the Minister of Health how many deaths there were in 1955 from smallpox; and whether he is satisfied that vaccination continues to be universally used to protect infants from this disease.
Sir Keith Joseph: Will the Parliamentary Secretary consider giving maximum publicity to this information so that the rate of vaccination will increase again?
Sir Keith Joseph: asked the Minister of Health whether, in the interest of the health of midwives themselves, he will consider issuing a circular to employing authorities urging them to adopt a system of freedom from night calls for several nights at a time, as practised by at least one authority.
