§ Q2. Mr. Peytonasked the Prime Minister which Ministers are responsible for answering Questions as to how the wages and salaries of various types of workers are affected during the period of severe restraint.
§ The Prime MinisterThe arrangements announced by my right hon. Friend the then First Secretary of State on 25th May, 1966, continue to apply.—[Vol. 729, c. 115.]
§ Mr. PeytonDoes the Prime Minister think that it would be better if there were a single clearing house for all the injustices and anomalies that are arising under this policy? Does not he think that it would be appropriate for the First Secretary, as the Minister primarily responsible, to have the duty of explaining the consequences of a policy which the Prime Minister has himself described as steps which no other democratic Government in the world have taken?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman can be assured that, so far as coordination of Government action on this matter is concerned, there are adequate arrangements for what he calls a "clearing house". That is a different matter from the subject of answering a Question in this House. I know that the hon. Gentleman has been very bothered about the transference of a Question of his about the wages of employees of rabbit clearance societies. This is appropriately a matter for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food because these wages normally follow agricultural wages and my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is normally responsible in those spheres.