§ The Prime MinisterI expect to do so later in the summer.
Mr. TaylorWill my right hon. Friend give an assurance that before the Government come to a final decision in the autumn about the Hardman Report he will take the opportunity of visiting one of the Government offices that have been dispersed successfully to Scotland, with 370 improved efficiency and lower costs? Does he appreciate that all shades of opinion in Scotland find the Hardman Report, with its proposal to disperse about 1,000 jobs to Scotland and 10,000 jobs to a new town about 50 miles from London, utterly unacceptable and a negation of regional development?
§ The Prime MinisterI have visited Government offices in which dispersal has already taken place in many parts of the country, including Glasgow. I did so when I was Leader of the Opposition and I have done so since I have been Prime Minister. The Government have published the Hardman Report so that there can be public discussion about it, and so that not only the House but local authorities and other organisations including the staff side of the Civil Service, which is very much affected, can express its views, and they can be taken into account. In the circumstances, my hon. Friend will not expect me to commit myself to any particular aspect or any particular place. Of the posts already dispersed, Scotland has had 20 per cent. Of those now settled and awaiting dispersal, Scotland will receive 25 per cent. and when the operation is concluded, apart from Hardman, Scotland will have had 21 per cent. of those civil servants who have been moved out of London.
§ Mr. RossDoes the right hon. Gentleman realise that from Scotland's point of view that is very unsatisfactory? Will the Prime Minister explain, wherever and whenever he goes to Scotland, why he has failed to dissociate himself from the insulting opinion of Sir Henry Hardman that Scotland is irrelevant to the running of national government.
§ The Prime MinisterIn fairness to all concerned, the right hon. Gentleman should read the whole of paragraph 14 of Appendix X of the report very carefully. The right hon. Gentleman has emphasised the position from the Scottish point of view. Administration devolved to St. Andrew's House and similarly to Wales is extremely successful, but it is working against a background in which Ministers are spending their time not where the people are devolved but at the centre of decision-taking, which is undoubtedly close to this House 371 and has to remain so. That is the context in which Sir Henry Hardman was writing in paragraph 14 of the report.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneIn his consideration of the Hardman Report will my right hon. Friend assure the House that he will not overlook the view that has long been taken by some Government Members that the interests of all parts of the United Kingdom may be even better served by the dispersal of civil servants out of the Civil Service altogether, rather than to other parts of the United Kingdom?
§ The Prime MinisterI am prepared to be reminded of that by my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. David SteelWhen the Prime Minister goes to Scotland will he make it clear that ministerial decision-making has very little to do with the decision or the recommendation to place the Agricultural Research Council and other units of the Agricultural Centre at Manchester, and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board—an office of only about 80 employees—in an urban centre such as Plymouth?
§ The Prime MinisterThere are some individual parts of Government which can be dispersed to a wide variety of places. That is what has been happening successfully during the past 10 years. There are other parts—those parts which Sir Henry Hardman was asked to investigate—whose proximity to Ministers and to Parliament is important. What he has been trying to weigh up, and what hon. Members will accept, whether or not they agree with the proposed location of the changes, is the cost in efficiency of dispersal of those associated with the policy-making compared with the advantages of regional development. I should have thought that a report as long as his and as carefully worked out demanded the most careful consideration by hon. Members.
§ Mr. SpeakerBusiness of the House—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I am not entitled to call any Question after 3.30.