HC Deb 06 November 1969 vol 790 cc1175-6
Q3. Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

asked the Prime Minister what was the total cost to public funds of his decision to set up a Department of Economic Affairs ; and what is the net reduction in staff resulting from his decision to abolish it.

The Prime Minister

I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to replies given on 22nd October, 1969.—[Vol. 788, c. 238–9, 262.]

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Does the fact that the right hon. Gentleman has at last accepted the advice of those of us who suggested that he should abolish this Department indicate that he now accepts that its initiation was one of his own sillier, if less expensive, mistakes?

The Prime Minister

If the right hon. Gentleman says "less expensive ", I cannot understand why it is that every time we have asked the Opposition what cuts in expenditure they would make to justify their taxation promises this was the only one they could think of, if, on his own admission, the total cost was only £6.75 million. What has happened now is that the work of the D.E.A., which is widely appreciated throughout British industry if not by right hon. Gentlemen opposite, is to continue in a much strengthened form in the Ministry of Technology. Regional matters—and the House gave an unopposed Second Reading to the Bill prepared by the D.E.A. on local employment—are under the aegis of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning.

Mr. Hooley

Is the Prime Minister aware that hon. Members who welcomed the creation of this Department are now a little uneasy that short-term Treasury considerations may be taking precedence in economic planning over fundamental considerations such as, for example, the level of industrial investment now and in the future?

The Prime Minister

My hon. Friend need have no such anxieties. The merger of the relevant part of D.E.A. with the Ministry of Technology means that there is now a very powerful industrial Department to see that the basic industrial state of the country is the essential matter in solving our balance of payments problems.