§ 46. Sir T. Mooreasked the Prime Minister in which Departments of His Majesty's Government it is the practice to pay informers for reporting infringements of the law or official regulations by members of the public.
§ The Prime MinisterThe General Post Office, the Inland Revenue Department, the Customs and Excise Department and the Ministry of Food. Small occasional rewards have also been paid by the Board of Trade, and possibly by other Departments.
§ Sir T. MooreWill the right hon. Gentleman say if these Departments pay children to inform against their parents, or will they merely encourage them to inform without payment, as was done in Nazi Germany?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. The particular offences in respect of which awards have been given are very grave offences against the whole community. For instance, the Post Office gave a reward in a matter in which there was wholesale forging going on of national saving stamps. There are also dangerous conspiracies in regard to the export of sterling and so forth, and steps have been taken—and I think rightly taken—to protect the country. No one likes the informer business, but it has been found necessary over a long series of years by successive Governments to give rewards in certain exceptional cases. The amounts given are very small.
§ Mr. Clement DaviesWhile recognising that this has been of long standing, does not the Prime Minister think that it is the duty of every citizen to bring to the attention of the authorities any breach of the law, and should not this be left in that form rather than to make a money payment to encourage spying?
§ The Prime MinisterI entirely agree that it is the duty of the citizen. Rewards are never held out as an inducement, but they are given as awards in certain cases.
§ Mr. MikardoCan my right hon. Friend say of the five Departments he has listed which began this practice under the present Government, which under a Conservative Government and which under a Liberal Government?
§ The Prime MinisterSo far as I can see the Treasury started under a Whig-Tory Government a couple of hundred years ago. I think that the Post Office started somewhere in the early 1920s, and I suppose that the Ministry of Food, being recently established, started at a more recent date.
§ Mr. NicholsonIs the Prime Minister aware that this whole matter is exceedingly repugnant to all citizens, and will he undertake to see that it is kept within practical bounds? Will he inform the House who decides on the scale of rewards and on what Vote it is carried?
§ The Prime MinisterThey are kept within very strict limits. I can say, for instance, that the total amount given from 1916 to 1938 on Inland Revenue matters was some £11,000, and in the last 10 years it was about £1,100. It is kept 524 under very close review, and careful instructions are given to all officers on appointment that there should be no holding out of rewards whatever. I think that hon. Members must recognise that there are very grave crimes which do great damage to the country, and it is necessary that the community should be protected.
Lieut-Commander Gurney Braith-waiteWill the Prime Minister at least assure the House that these monetary rewards will be kept to a minimum and will be subject to Income Tax?
§ The Prime MinisterObviously that depends on the income of the recipient, and I naturally cannot say whether they will come under Income Tax or not, but I think that I have three times already said that they are kept to the minimum.
§ Mr. AustinIs my right hon. Friend aware that this practice is no more reprehensible than the practice of snooping when the means test was in operation?