§ 73. Mr. LANSBURYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether secretariats have been introduced by and with the approval of the Treasury as separate divisions of the staff and administration of Government Departments; if so, at what date this decision was reached; is he aware that the introduction of secretariats has had the effect of separating and isolating the heads of technical and administrative divisions from access and responsibility to the permanent and political heads of State Departments; and can he name the Ministries in which this new element has been introduced during the War or later and the numbers and cost of persons employed in purely secretarial work?
§ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Mr. Baldwin)Secretariats form an integral part of the organisation of many Departments, but there has been no such general change as is implied in the second part of the question, and the third and fourth parts do not, therefore, arise.