§ 7. Mr. HansonTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much was paid in respect of their duties to board members of non-departmental public bodies appointed by him in 1992–93.
§ Mr. RedwoodBoard members received £703,934 in 1992–93.
§ Mr. HansonI thank the Secretary of State for that answer. That figure will undoubtedly rise. Will the right hon. Gentleman be happy for an increasing number of people to be paid for as part of the unelected state when the money could be diverted to provide democratic control of the services in question? Several people are now earning in excess of £50,000 to £60,000. Is the Secretary of State happy with that?
§ Mr. RedwoodThe hon. Gentleman's attack has backfired on him. I welcome the fact that the Labour party is campaigning, in its new guise, for fewer quangos, but I find that about as credible as the Welsh rugby team saying that they are now teetotal. The Labour party has never opposed quangos in its life—and has usually recommended the establishment of many more. I also reject the idea that the Labour party is putting around that it is my aim to have more people on quango boards than elected councillors. That is quite untrue. It also shows how much scorn the Labour party has for community councils. It has ignored 730 of those as well as miscalculating the figures so as to try to suggest that there are or will soon be more quango members than there are elected councillors. That is also quite untrue.
I believe that elected people have a strong role to play in our democracy, but local authorities and central Governments of all persuasions from time to time delegate functions to boards of experienced people. We ensure that they are properly monitored and we report back to the House or they report back to their Labour-controlled council chambers.
§ Mr. RichardsIs my right hon. Friend aware that, in spite of the clamour on the Opposition Benches against quangos, the Labour party has never once voted against the establishing of a new quango and neither has it indicated that, in the unlikely event of a Labour Government ever being formed, it would wish to abolish any quangos?
§ Mr. RedwoodI think that my hon. Friend is right and I look forward to the proposals to abolish quangos. I hope that the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) will send me a little list because we might be able to find that we can do business across the Floor of the House.
§ Mr. LlwydDoes the Secretary of State realise that the Conservative party in north Wales has sunk into fourth place in the race for the European election? In spite of that, does he deplore, as I do, the political statements being made by the chairman of the Gwynedd area health authority, who has suddenly come out in his true colours? Is not it disgraceful that the only qualification that he had to do that job was his affiliation to the party?
§ Mr. RedwoodI deny that latter charge and on the former point I look forward to the real poll, because we often find that polls are extremely misleading.
I was amused that the hon. Gentleman's original question backfired, because it shows that the amount that 10 we spend on Welsh quango board members is less than it is said that a single Member of the European Parliament costs.