§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the. Prime Minister, pursuant to her reply to the hon. Member for Kensington concerning housing and social services amalgamation, Official Report, 25 July, c. 277, whether she will provide details of the likely medium-term costs to which she refers and of the cost of making the study of the amalgamation proposed between the functions and staff and premises of the central and local government departments.
§ The Prime MinisterI am sure my hon. Friend will appreciate that I could not provide a credible analysis of the medium-term public expenditure cost of amalgamating the functions, staff and premises of the DHSS and local authority offices without mounting a large study. I have already said that I do not believe that such a study would be justified and it would therefore incur disproportionate cost to undertake the work needed to provide an answer to the second part of my hon. Friend's question.