§ Q3. Mr. Kenneth Lewisasked the Prime Minister how many independent commissions or inquiries have been set up by Her Majesty's Government since October, 1964; and how many independent advisers have been employed by Ministers since that date.
§ The Prime MinisterSeventeen and five respectively.
§ Mr. LewisIs the Prime Minister aware that, on my count, the number of people appointed to commissions, as advisers and so on, is greater than the number of days he and his party have been in office? As he was 13 years in Opposition, why do we now have to have government by study group?
§ The Prime MinisterThe need for these inquiries arises precisely because we were in opposition 13 years and because things were not done which should have been done under the Conservative Government.
§ Mr. DeanDoes the Prime Minister recall that in a Written Answer to me recently he told me that there were 251 standing advisory committees in existence at the moment, of which about half report confidentially? Is it not time that we had a committee similar to the Franks Committee to look into the whole working of these standing advisory committees to see whether they conform with free and open government?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that the hon. Gentleman is correct in the figures which he has taken from information which I previously gave the House, but, of course, there were included a number of committees, commissions and inquiries set up before last October as well as 1847 those since. The Question on the Order Paper refers to those appointed since last October.