§ Mr. Doverasked the Minister of Transport when he expects to reach final decisions on his proposals of 2 October for the phasing-out of Road Construction Unit sub-units and on his proposals for the future status of local authority staff at Road Construction Unit headquarters.
§ Mr. FowlerWe are considering the responses of county councils and staff to my firm proposals for RCU sub-units. I expect to be in a position to announce very soon final decisions on the allocation of schemes between county councils and consultancy. In the light of our final decisions, the Department and the RCU staff clearing house will follow up the preliminary proposals submitted by individual firms of consultants. This will take some little time, and we propose to deal first with schemes in Eastern region. We are also planning to announce soon final decisions following consultations about our proposals for the future arrangements at RCU headquarters, including the position of staff, but the time scale is likely to be a little longer.