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Publication of a Select Committee Report

I beg to move,"That this House notes the publication of the Seventh Report from the Select Committee on Public Administration on Smaller Government: What do Ministers do?, HC530." This procedure, involving a motion, is in place of what we hope one day will be an arrangement to make a statement. I will make some remarks and then invite right hon. and hon. Friends to intervene. Our Committee decided to inquire into the role of Ministers following the Government's decision to reduce the number of right hon. and hon. Members by 50 without a corresponding reduction in the number of Ministers. The Prime Minister made it clear before the election that the public wanted us to"““cut the cost of politics. Everyone is having to do more for less””." He therefore asked if it was not time that"““politicians and ministers did a bit more for a bit less””." He was absolutely clear that he intended that statement to apply to Ministers as well as to MPs. The UK is notable among similar western nations. We have more Ministers than France, Italy, Spain and Germany.