Lord Tomlinson
Main Page: Lord Tomlinson (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Perhaps if I may say so, I do not think that I need reminding by the noble Baroness of my responsibility at the Dispatch Box. It is very important not to conflate the savings that will come from the public bodies review with the spending review which will be announced tomorrow. The savings from the public bodies review are being made within departments. The departments will make announcements about the detailed savings that they will be making consequent upon the spending review tomorrow.
Lord Tomlinson
Is the Minister saying that it is beyond the capacity of government to tot up the sums from individual government departments and to tell us, quite simply, how many jobs and how much money?
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
It is important for noble Lords to bear in mind that this is a complex process. The decision-making process has been decided; now we have the implementation process. Implementation involves people’s lives and jobs and it would be recklessly irresponsible to anticipate how government departments will handle individual public bodies within their remits. That is why I am not in a position to give any further details than I have already given.