HC Deb 03 February 1972 vol 830 cc668-9
Q2. Mr. Ashley

asked the Prime Minister what plans he now has for taking the chair at the National Economic Development Council.

The Prime Minister

I have nothing to add to the answer I gave on 9th November to a Question from the hon. Member for Dudley (Dr. Gilbert).—[Vol. 825, c. 126.]

Mr. Ashley

As the Prime Minister has been so maladroit in his handling of the unemployment situation, is he now prepared to accept the O.E.C.D. view that the Government's policies are unlikely to have any rapid impact on the level of unemployment? Is he aware that that view was supported by the C.B.I. today? Could he ask the National Economic Development Council to take account of the serious implications of the O.E.C.D. view?

The Prime Minister

We can certainly ask the National Economic Development Council to take account of these views, and others which are published from time to time. The Council has been discussing particular subjects; in January it was industrial investment and yesterday it was manpower resources and the Bolton Report on small firms. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman reads the O.E.C.D. report in full because some of the summaries which have appeared certainly do not represent the views expressed in that report. In particular the report comments that Her Majesty's Government's policies form a consistent strategy for dealing with the entire group' of economic problems.