§ Q10. Mr. Carterasked the Prime Minister if he will reduce the number of Ministers at the Department of Employment.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir.
§ Mr. CarterIs the Prime Minister aware that people in the country think that something should be done either to increase or to decrease the number of Ministers at the Department of Employment, to reduce at once the very high level of unemployment in Britain?
§ The Prime MinisterThe problem of unemployment is linked to a very large number of policies. What the hon. Gentle-does not like is the fact that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment and his colleagues have carried through the House the Industrial Relations Bill.
§ Mr. LiptonIs the Prime Minister aware that we still think that he should go to the Windward Islands?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's good wishes, but I will refrain from indicating to him where I think he might go.
§ Mrs. Renée ShortIs the Prime Minister aware that what we on these benches do not like, and what all my West Midlands colleagues in the House do not like—I know that I speak for them—is that since his Government came to power we have the highest level of unemployment in the West Midlands since the end of the war? Is he aware that male unemployment in the West Midlands is 4.2 per cent.? Is it not time he got his Ministers in the Department of Employment, which should be called the Department of Unemployment, on to the job and doing something about it?
§ The Prime MinisterIf the hon. Lady dislikes the situation as much as that, I hope that she will vocally, in public and private, support the policies for dealing with wage-cost inflation.