Mr Edward Short: As the House knows, my right hon. Friend is attending a meeting of the European Council in Luxembourg today and tomorrow and, in his absence, I have been asked to reply. Yes, Sir.
Mr Edward Short: The hon. Gentleman asked what progress we were making in implementing the policies set out in the Queen's Speech. Of the Bills mentioned there, four have already received the Royal Assent, 13 are before Parliament—some having made substantial progress—and the remaining Bills are due to be introduced slowly—I am sorry, I should have said "shortly".
Mr Edward Short: Perhaps I may explain that I meant to say that the Bills would be introduced quickly—very quickly, and certainly before Easter. On my hon. Friend's supplementary question, I have no doubt that my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary will be raising this matter in the European Council in Luxembourg today and tomorrow.
Mr Edward Short: We have received hundreds of submissions from a great many bodies throughout the country, including an excellent one from the Welsh TUC. We shall take all these into account before publishing the Bill.
Mr Edward Short: I am glad that my hon. Friend saw some light on the way to Damascus last weekend. He will also have seen the excellent statement by the TUC—not the Scottish TUC but the United Kingdom TUC—published last week on devolution, warmly supporting the Government's proposals.
Mr Edward Short: The draft Bill will be published as early as possible. Let me repeat: we have received hundreds of submissions, some of great length. We are trying to digest all these. We shall publish the Bill when we have looked at all the submissions.
Mr Edward Short: We have not yet taken a decision on this matter. I gave an undertaking to the right hon. Gentleman when he raised this matter in debate, and a number of other hon. Members have raised it. I think that a group of Members is coming to see me next week about this issue. Certainly we shall consider all the representations that we have had before we decide.
Mr Edward Short: I have been asked to reply. Yes, Sir. Official advice is always available to my right hon. Friend in the exercise of his official functions.
Mr Edward Short: I rather suspected that the hon. Gentleman would raise the question of age, so I had some research done on this matter. Of the last 66 appointments to seven new bodies, the average age was 52, and the ages of the chairmen averaged 59·6 years. On the point about extending the area, the hon. Gentleman will know that the Prime Minister has taken a number of steps recently——
Mr Edward Short: I agree. His resignation will considerably broaden and improve the quality of people available to serve on public bodies. On the second part of the supplementary question of the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Mr. Steen), he will know that the Prime Minister has recently created the Public Appointments Unit, which has been instructed to publish in the first half of this year a...
Mr Edward Short: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agrees that the Chairman should be a distinguished layman and not a lawyer. In the case of this Royal Commission, neither the Chairman nor any of the members has been appointed so far. In the case of the Royal Commission on the National Health Service, the Chairman has been appointed, but not the members. In the case of the Royal Commission on Gambling,...
Mr Edward Short: My hon. Friend asked what was wrong with octogenarians, as such. The answer is "Nothing—except that they are octogenarians." He answered the second part of his question himself.
Mr Edward Short: I have been asked to reply. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply which my right hon, Friend gave to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. McCrindle) on 16th March, Sir.
Mr Edward Short: There are no major problems. The National Enterprise Board is getting to work. It has already been announced that planning agreements are to be drawn up with British Leyland and Chrysler, and the Government are engaged in formal discussions with a number of other leading companies about the prospects of introducing planning agreements into key sectors of manufacturing industry. Certainly this...
Mr Edward Short: The person appointed to succeed my right hon. Friend will have the full support of the present Prime Minister and all his colleagues, without exception.
Mr Edward Short: No, Sir, I would not put it just like that. I said in the House last week or the previous week that if there were a demand for this we would have discussions through the usual channels. We had such discussions. I also received representations from a number of hon. Members, on both sides of the House, against having the Budget broadcast. In view of the discussions that we had and all the...
Mr Edward Short: Without accepting anything that the hon. Gentleman has said, I am sure that it does not arise out of this Question.
Mr Edward Short: As my hon. Friend knows, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service is involved in the dispute at present. It would be unwise for me or for any of us to pursue the matter now.
Mr Edward Short: I have been asked to reply. Yes, Sir.
Mr Edward Short: We reject that suggestion entirely. When the economy is running below capacity, such a suggestion would result in further unemployment. We have made our proposals in regard to public expenditure to create an improvement in investment and in exports when the economy begins its upturn.
