§ Q1. Mr. Raphael Tuckasked the Prime Minister if he will make it the 1721 practice of his Administration to ensure that continuity of action is ensured when work is transferred from one division in a Ministry or department to another division.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)This is already the practice.
§ Mr. TuckThe Prime Minister will be aware, will he not, that the Ombudsman has recently delivered a sharp rap over the knuckles to the Department of the Environment for breaking its promise to the North Watford Allotments Society because the right hand of the Department did not know what the left hand was doing? Does he realise that if this sort of muddle had occurred on his yacht "Morning Cloud" he would be at the bottom of the ocean by now? Will he undertake to have the Civil Service thoroughly spring-cleaned, so that this kind of thing does not happen again?
§ The Prime MinisterThis was an isolated case of human error by one of the members of the Department at a point when certain work affecting the hon. Member's constituency was transferred from the head office to a regional office. It has been thoroughly investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner and I offer my apologies to the hon. Member and his constituents for the human error that was made. But this does not mean that any change is required in the procedures that Departments have for carrying out these responsibilities.
§ Sir Gilbert LongdenWhich Department is responsible for providing this House with Parliamentary papers? Could my right hon. Friend transfer that function to another Department as quickly as possible?
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. Friend will recognise that, whichever Department it is under, the fact that these men are on strike would still mean that the papers were not provided.