HC Deb 03 August 1971 vol 822 cc1326-7
Q1. Mr. Lipton

The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)

The annual salary cost is £98,000. There are twenty-four staff, including 11 secretarial and other supporting grades.

Mr. Lipton

In order to enable us to know whether we are getting value for money, will the Prime Minister go a bit further and list the names of the persons employed, the salaries that they are drawing, and the extent to which the work they are doing could equally well be done by the Permanent Under-Secretaries in the various Departments?

The Prime Minister

The answer to the last part of the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question is "No". The unit was created for a specific purpose as part of the Cabinet Office, and it is carrying out that work. As to the members and the salaries that they are paid, the names of the senior appointments were announced as they were made, as were the salaries that they were to receive. Details of the rest of the appointments will appear in the standard works of reference.

Mr. Hugh Jenkins

As we are told that the work of this unit includes examining the feasibility of the Concorde project, what is so secretive about it? Why cannot the right hon. Gentleman tell us a little more about what it is doing? If it is true that it is proposing to recommend against Concorde, will he guarantee that that recommendation will be published?

The Prime Minister

The advice given by Departments to Ministers is never published. As this unit is part of the Cabinet Secretariat, it would be quite wrong if the advice which it gives to Ministers were made public. Ministers must take responsibility for decisions, and the advice which the unit gives them will be taken into account together with other advice.