Mr Alastair Harrison: Is it not possible that economic conditions have improved, too?
Mr Alastair Harrison: Rubbish.
Mr Alastair Harrison: Listening to the debate, one gains an impression of tremendous extremes in offices, on the one hand, offices which are perfect and in which people are anxious to work, and, on the other hand, offices in which people work in conditions similar to those in the mines a hundred years ago. If one believes the case which has been put forward by hon. Members opposite, the office worker today is the...
Mr Alastair Harrison: Would the hon. Gentleman tell us whether, from his researches, he has discovered whether all this was for the doctors and staff, or for the patients?
Mr Alastair Harrison: I should like my hon. and learned Friend to make clear whether the investigating committee presents the case to the disciplinary committee, or whether it is presented by someone else.
Mr Alastair Harrison: I have been in the hands of most of these professions at one time or another.
Mr Alastair Harrison: With the exception of the speech therapists. I therefore feel that I have an interest in the Bill. I welcome the fact that it is felt that these professions can be brought within the category of state registration. I do not want to detain the House long, but I want to make a few points to follow my noble Friend the Member for Hertford (Lord Balniel) and my hon. and learned Friend, the Member...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I agree that this is not so in all cases. I was trying to make the point that it looked as though it was now regarded as desirable, if we were to set up a new professional status, that there should be this form of disciplinary action. The hon. Member was right to correct me. Even the Bar Council cannot administer oaths or subpoena witnesses, although I think that I am right in saying that the...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I want to follow up two points which the hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Dr. King) has made. If I may say so without seeming patronising, I thought he struck the right balance about this Bill, about the difference between complacency with what is being achieved and the desire, which was expressed by an hon. Gentleman opposite, to enlarge the scope of the Bill because it did not yet...
Mr Alastair Harrison: Mr. Brian Harrison (Maldon) rose—
Mr Alastair Harrison: I was interested to know whether the hon. Gentleman was referring to Australia as a Colony.
Mr Alastair Harrison: It is an interesting fact that, whereas many people from this country have been "transported" to Australia in the past, the illustrious predecessor of our present Speaker is being "transported", not this lime to Botany Bay, but to take up a very distinguished position in Australia; and a very different view is being taken of the job to which he is going and what he will do there. Speaking as...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I wish to detain the House for only a couple of minutes. As a neighbour of my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich (Mr. Ridsdale), I want to add emphasis to what he said. There is tremendous local disquiet at the extraordinary way—that is the only word for it—that the Minister has acted in this case. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West (Mr. J. Eden) that...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I beg to move, That this House, recognising that the operation of powerful aircraft necessary for effective defence, presents special probems to people living near military airfields, calls upon Her Majesty's Government to do everything possible to reduce the inevitable disturbance and ensure that compensation claims for damage are dealt with fairly and promptly. While I wish to deal with the...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. In some cases it is not smooth enough, either; there is too much tolerance—I think that is the word—to cope with high-speed landings. These planes, with decreasing wing area, which gives them greater speed, need longer runways, because they have faster landing and take-off speeds. That means that periodically there has to be reconstruction. Some...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for that correction. I have obviously misread some information from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. I accept his assurance that it is possible only to minimise the noise, and not completely to eliminate it. I should also like my hon. Friend to see whether something can be done to compensate people in these areas from what is the...
Mr Alastair Harrison: This happened by accident during a display last year.
Mr Alastair Harrison: Could my hon. Friend give that total figure again? I do not think that I heard him correctly. Was it £2,000? That seems a remarkably small amount to settle all those claims.
Mr Alastair Harrison: This is a most interesting point. Can the hon. Member explain it a little more thoroughly? Would it increase the real funds available, or would it be just printing money, with the possibility of world inflation, as has been experienced in the case of certain countries?
Mr Alastair Harrison: rose—
