§ 7. Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new proposals he has to improve relations between his Department and business and local authorities in Wales.
§ Mr. RedwoodI am improving relationships by holding meetings to review future plans for each area, by local authority business partnerships and by encouraging eight business development consortiums in Wales.
§ Mr. FlynnWill not the Secretary of State's double standards wreck his relations with local authorities, given that he condemns them for their contacts with lobbyists but allows the Welsh Office an open door to its corridors, which are infested with lobbyists seeking to pervert public policy for their rich clients? Why does he allow that to happen; why does he not allow Parliament knowledge of how many lobbyists have contact with his Ministers and civil servants? Is this why prominent Welsh Conservative Leslie Morgan described the work of the Secretary of State this weekend as "really disastrous"?
§ Mr. RedwoodI was objecting to some local authorities spending taxpayers' money on employing consultants or lobbyists to do work that those authorities are capable of doing themselves. I do not intend to encourage that in the Welsh Office. I have taken a knife to the budget for consultancies, which are not right when we have talented officials who can do the job. I hope that local government will take a leaf out of that book.