64. Captain TUDOR-REESasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has now received answers from those who have been invited to sit on Committees appointed for the purpose of making test investigations with a view to the reduction of expenditure in public Departments; and, if so, whether he will give the names of the members of such Committees and state when they propose to begin their inquiries?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINWe are attempting to form 7 Committees, each consisting of one Member of Parliament as Chairman, one man of business and one official selected from a different branch of the public service, to investigate the seven following Departments:—Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Munitions, Board of Trade, Department of Overseas Trade, National Savings Committee, Royal Commission on the Sugar Supply. Of these the Committee for the Labour Ministry is complete, and consists of my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Uxbridge (Lieut.-Colonel Sidney Peel, D.S.O.), Sir John Mann, K.B.E., and Sir Charles Walker, K.C.B., Accountant-General of the Navy. We have not yet been able to complete the other Committees, but I shall be glad to give their composition as soon as we have secured Gentlemen to serve on them.
§ Mr. BILLINGIs it proposed to limit the selection of members of this Committee to the hearty supporters of the Government, or will the Committees be selected from those who may be critics of the Government?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINMy experience is that, whatever people may feel towards the Government, they are all critics of the Treasury.
§ Sir J. BUTCHERWill the right hon. Gentleman consider the propriety of appointing a Committee to examine the expenditure of the Education Department?