§ Q3. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Prime Minister if he will define the responsibilities of the Minister of Public Building and Works for building and engineering work done in the Palace of Westminster.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer the right hon. Gentleman to the statement I made on 23rd March, 1965, on the Control and Custody of the Palace of Westminster.—[Vol. 709, c. 328–33.]
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterDoes it follow from that Answer that his right hon. Friend remains Ministerially responsible for the cost of work done on this Palace and that, therefore, he should answer Questions about it?
§ The Prime MinisterThere may have been some misunderstanding about this. My right hon. Friend is, of course, responsible for the Estimates relating to this matter. He is responsible to Parliament. He is responsible for carrying out the Vote of this House following the report of the Select Committee. This does not mean that he would in all circumstances have to spend whatever money the Select Committee felt he should spend. In this particular case the number of annunciators—I think that this is the point the right hon. Gentleman has in mind—was quite large. He carried out what the Select Committee said should be done, but nevertheless there was a very big net saving 656 compared with going on with the old system of annunciators, which would have cost about four times as much per annum.
§ Mr. William PriceDoes my right hon. Friend recall his maiden speech to the House in which he dealt with the very difficult working conditions of hon. Members? Is he aware that 23 years later some of us are still left with nothing more than a peg on which to hang our sword and a locker?
§ The Prime MinisterI am well aware of this problem. I confess that I remember that speech, which was made on what was for me a highly nervous occasion. I think that my hon. Friend will agree that while we still have a long way to go to improve working conditions here, there have been some significant improvements in the last four or five years.