HC Deb 22 April 1969 vol 782 cc246-7
28. Mr. Rossi

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works what progress he has made with his review of the Mann Reports; and whether he will make a statement.

25. Mr. Carlisle

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works what progress he has made in his consultations with the building trade unions concerning the second and third Reports of the Mann Committee; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Mellish

My consultations with the unions are being conducted on a wider basis than the contents of the second and third Reports of the Mann Committee. Discussions on the use of directly employed labour in my Ministry have now reached a definitive stage and I hope to make a statement very soon. Consultations on a possible productivity agreement are also in progress.

Mr. Rossi

I am grateful to the Minister for at long last telling the House that he is about to come and explain to it the results of the Mann Report. I would have hoped that he could have done this before. Did not he recently make a Press statement concerning the number of people employed in his Department and does not he think that the proper place to make such a statement is in the House?

Mr. Mellish

The Report of the Mann Committee was sent to the Minister of the day, and I regard it as confidential to me as Minister. As I have already told the House, it was a sample survey of a very few depots in my Ministry. Based upon the judgment of the Mann Committee, I have now conducted a national survey, on which I carried the unions with me, and I am not prepared, just to please the hon. Gentleman's political view, to publish the Mann Committee's Reports which, in my view, are not indicative of the Ministry as a whole.

Mr. Chichester-Clark

If, as the Minister said, this matter is confidential to him, why should the Press be treated to his confidence before the House?

Mr. Mellish

The Press have not been treated to any confidence. That I have said to the Press that I employ directly 32,000 people has no bearing on the Mann Committee's Reports. Anyone in the House who took an interest in my Ministry would be aware of this.