Mr. Alan Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Wales why he authorised the use of an official departmental press release to announce the appointment of an hon. Member to advise him on matters relating to Conservative party organisation in Wales.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI authorised the issue on 16 July of an official Departmental press release to announce the appointment of my hon. Friend the Member for Hereford (Mr. Shepherd) as my parliamentary private secretary. I also took the opportunity to announce that other Welsh Members had been asked by me to specialise in a number of issues affecting Wales. I thought it right to explain that my hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr. Raffan) was not included in these tasks because he had taken on duties of a party political nature—none of the details of which were given in the press notice. It would perhaps have been better for the reference to my hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr. Raffan) to have been mentioned in a separate press release issued by myself. I have therefore arranged to reimburse the Department for the cost of the Release.