§ 9. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will consider giving Civil Service status to the staff of rent tribunals.
§ Mr. CrossmanI would refer my hon. Friend to the Answer I gave to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Bilston (Mr. Robert Edwards) on 17th November.
§ Mr. AllaunMay we gather from that Answer that the Minister is distinctly sympathetic both to rent tribunals and to the status of their staffs?
§ Mr. CrossmanIt would be a lot to gather from that Answer. What I will say to my hon. Friend is that this is a very important question which closely relates to the big Bill that we are now preparing for a new system of rent control. Once we know more clearly what that system is to be we can see the role which the tribunals will play and we can then discuss the problem of the status of their staff.
§ Mr. CorfieldIs the right hon. Gentleman implying that he does not know what that Bill will contain?
§ Mr. CrossmanIf the hon. Gentleman thinks that we have every detail of it prepared now I will make a candid revelation: we have minds with which we are still thinking.