§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he has any further plans to reduce the numbers of civil servants over the next three years; and what is his intention on the number of civil servants to be employed by May 1984.
§ Mr. ChannonI refer the hon. Lady to the statement I made in the House on 6 December 1979—[Vol. 975, cols. 627–40]—and to the reply I gave to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Scunthorpe (Mr. Brown) on 14 March—[Vol. 980, c. 748.]