§ Q1. Mr. Lofthouseasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 18 November.
§ The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)This morning I attended the memorial service for Henry Moore and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House I shall be having further meetings later today. This evening I hope to have an audience of Her Majesty The Queen.
§ Mr. LofthouseIf Mr. Peter Wright's memoirs confirm that Sir Roger Hollis was a spy, does the Prime Minister agree that her statement to the House in March 1981 was misleading? Or was it as Sir Robert Armstrong described yesterday and the right hon. Lady was just being economical with the truth?
§ The Prime MinisterI stand by, and reaffirm, the statement that I made to the House on that subject. With regard to the case, the matter is sub judice.
§ Mr. Tim SmithIs my right hon. Friend aware that 105 David Owens and an encouragingly large number of David Steels have expressed an interest in the British Gas share issue? Does not that fact, together with the fact that 6 million people in all have expressed interest, show the popularity of the Government's programme to encourage wider share ownership?
§ The Prime MinisterYes. It is not only popular, it is the right policy, and we shall pursue it and other measures of privatisation.
§ Mr. KinnockAgainst the background of the teachers' settlement negotiated last week, the National Confederation of Parent-Teacher Associations has this morning made a strong appeal to the Prime Minister and the Government to "accept and ratify" the proposed 433 agreement. May I therefore strongly urge the Prime Minister to announce now that the Government will "accept and ratify" that agreement to ensure a sustainable settlement that will work to the advantage of Britain's schoolchildren and the satisfaction of both parents and teachers?
§ The Prime MinisterI understand that there is not yet a full signed agreement and that there is to be a further meeting tomorrow. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made quite clear the conditions under which the Government would pay the extra sums to finance the proposed 16.4 per cent. increase.
§ Mr. KinnockThe Prime Minister knows perfectly well that matters to be discussed tomorrow are issues of minor detail that do not affect the substance of the overall agreement. Will she tell us whether she will "accept and ratify" that agreement? Is it not obvious that, by her evasion of the majority view of parents and teachers, she is trying to pick a fight for political reasons best known to herself?
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made clear the conditions upon which the Government will pay the extra sum required to finance the 16.4 per cent. increase. Those conditions relate to duties and pay structure. Pay structure is crucial if we are to get top calibre teachers into the profession. [Interruption.] If the right hon. Gentleman is interested in my reply he might do me the courtesy of listening to it. Pay structure is critical for young people coming into teaching. They must know that there are good prospects of increases in pay and excellent prospects for head teachers. The proposal on offer from the Government would take average teachers' pay 10 per cent. in real terms above Houghton and 27 per cent. in real terms above what it was when Labour lost office in 1979.
§ Mr. KinnockThe Prime Minister cannot get away with that. As a former Secretary of State, does she not appreciate that to obtain teachers of high quality she must first attract them to the profession and then keep them there, which is why a decent basic rate and further prospects are included in the agreement?
§ The Prime MinisterStructure is vital to attract young people of calibre into the profession. The right hon. Gentleman is hardly in a position to complain when our average offer is 27 per cent. in real terms above anything that the Labour Government managed to — [Interruption.]
§ Q2. Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 18 November.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Sir John Biggs-DavisonWill my right hon. Friend consider with her Cabinet colleagues today the publication of a White Paper about the totalitarian tendency's perversion of local government? Does she recall the words of the Labour deputy leader of the unlamented GLC about Left-wing councillors' prejudice against the police and the abuse of local government as a political ladder for the extreme Left?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend. The details that he catalogues show how the present Labour party would behave in power. That is what it is like and what it would be like.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsDoes the Prime Minister now appreciate the increasing ludicrousness of the Government's posture before the Australian courts — which I am sure is not sub judice according to the rules of this House? As the Home Secretary who received the Trend report and believes in the strong probability of Sir Roger Hollis' innocence, and as an admirer of Sir Robert Armstrong, who served me in two capacities, I deplore the foolish mission on which the Government have sent Sir Robert. May I ask the Prime Minister whether there is any chance of her recovering a sense of proportion on this issue?
§ The Prime MinisterWith regard to the main object of the right hon. Gentleman's question, like all present and former members of the security service, Mr. Wright has a lifelong duty of confidentiality to the Crown. Unauthorised publication of his manuscript would violate that obligation. My right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General has accordingly applied to the Supreme Court of New South Wales for an injunction to prevent publication of the book. The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that proceedings have begun in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the matter is therefore sub judice.
§ Mr. BatisteWill my right hon. Friend ensure that any settlement with the teachers includes provision to attract into the profession teachers of physics, mathematics and other subjects at present in all too short supply?
§ The Prime MinisterThat is the object of my right hon. Friend's pay structure — to ensure that teachers of subjects in which there are shortages have a pay structure that will attract them into the profession and take them up the ladder right to the top jobs.