---

Publication of a Select Committee Report

I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for that point, because the large number of PPSs does rob Select Committees of the talent that they need to function effectively. Very often, the most able Members are selected as PPSs and taken away from Select Committees. To conclude, the academics who appeared before us agreed for the longer term with the suggestion made by Lord Hurd in the previous Parliament that the abolition of"““20 Ministerial posts at different levels would not only be popular but would be followed immediately by an adjustment of workload.””" We therefore repeat the recommendation made in our original report that, over the course of this Parliament, the total number of Ministers should be reduced to 80, shared between the Commons and the Lords. We welcome the fact that the Government's thinking seems to be moving in that direction. The Deputy Leader of the House said last year that"““it is likely that at some stage in the future we will reduce the number of Ministers.””—[Official Report, 25 October 2010; Vol. 517, c. 129.]" I welcome that. I hope that the report will encourage the Government to move in that direction faster, and to review the number and functions of Ministers in a way that strengthens Parliament and delivers a better quality of government. Question put and agreed to.