§ 14. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what increase he plans in Class XIV, Vote 1, Subhead 21 and cash block DOE 6 in the current financial year and the coming financial years to meet the cost of providing Assemblies in Edinburgh and Cardiff.
§ Mr. FreesonThe Estimate and cash block will be increased by £1.4 million to cover expenditure in 1976–77. Provision for remaining works expenditure of about £2.6 million will be made within the public expenditure totals for later years.
§ Mr. DalyellAs we Scots do not speak noticeably less long than the English, and may be expected to have equalHansard requirements, and asHansard last year cost £816,000, has this sort of estimate been included, and are contracts to be awarded on a cost-plus or a fixed-price basis?
§ Mr. FreesonI should require notice of that last point. I shall write to my hon. Friend. The first point is not for me, and the figures that I have quoted have no relation to the provision of aHansard service following the creation of any Welsh and Scottish Assemblies.
§ Mr. Donald StewartWill the Minister accept that if, after the clash of opinion in the House, a devolution Bill were finally passed, it would be ludicrous to deny the setting up of an Assembly on the grounds of the cost of the administration and a possible bill for printing the ScottishHansard?
§ Mr. FreesonThe Property Services Agency estimates, to which I referred in my first answer, are being provided in order that the PSA may carry out its usual function of servicing the requirements of the appropriate Government Departments, subject, of course, to the due authority of Parliament when it is given, or if it is given.
§ Mr. KinnockIs my right hon. Friend aware that if the arrangement for the construction of the Assembly buildings is on a cost-plus basis he will have some very bad news for the House and, indeed, for the people of Wales, Scotland and England in the next couple of months, because the original estimate of £12 million for the Cardiff Assembly, simply taking into account inflation, must by now be at least £14 million? Can my right hon. Friend confirm or deny my figures?
§ Mr. FreesonI can do neither. I can only undertake to write to my hon. Friend when I have checked the point raised earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell).
§ Mr. BuchananHas my right hon. Friend taken into consideration the cost of the butchering of local government that must inevitably take place if these Assemblies are set up?
§ Mr. FreesonNo doubt that will be a consideration that the House will debate and have in mind when it comes to its decision. No doubt any future shape of local government will be considered at much greater length by the Government Departments concerned, and by the House, in due course.