HC Deb 08 November 1960 vol 629 cc809-10
16. Mr. Leavey

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether the recent speech by Dame Evelyn Sharp to the Annual Conference of the Association of Municipal Corporations, to the effect that local amalgamations and bigger authorities were necessary to tackle the wider range of functions in the future was made with his authority; and to what extent it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to bring about such changes in local authority powers and boundaries in the special review areas of the North-West.

Mr. H. Brooke

With respect to my hon. Friend, my Permanent Secretary did not say this. She said that in considering the right structure for local government one must bear in mind the job that needs to be done, and the changing nature and range of local government responsibilities in the modern world. This is something which I have repeatedly said myself, but not so well. The Government's policy, which applies to the special review areas of the North-West as it does elsewhere, is to secure effective and convenient local government, and to await the reviews and recommendations by the Local Government Commissions for England and Wales before deciding what changes in organisation, if any, may be needed for this purpose.

Mr. Leavey

I am obliged to my right hon. Friend. Notwithstanding what he has said, he will surely agree that it is undesirable that at this time his senior permanent adviser should give the impression, at any rate, that size will be the main, if not the only, criterion. Further, is not my right hon. Friend aware that, in seeming to condone this approach, he is subscribing not only to the view that the gentlemen in Whitehall know best, but perhaps that the ladies in Whitehall know best, which is surely the last straw?

Mr. Brooke

I do not think that Dame Evelyn ever said what my hon. Friend thinks that she said. What she said was reported verbatim in the November issue of the Municipal Review and can there be read by any hon. Member. She discussed with me beforehand what she was going to say. Everything she proposed to say was completely in line with declared Government policy. The only thing she did not tell me she was going to reveal was that her earliest recollection was going round shouting for a candidate at a local election at the age of 4.