HC Deb 30 July 1930 vol 242 cc467-9
11. Mr. T. LEWIS

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty the reasons for the increase of personnel at the Admiralty from 2,062 ti 1924 to 2,932 in 1929-30, seeing that the personnel and tonnage of the Navy have considerably decreased during the same period?

Mr. ALEXANDER

I presume that the date 1924 mentioned in the question is an error for 1914. The reasons why the Admiralty require a larger staff to-day than in 1914 have been explained in great detail on various occasions, and it has also been explained that the aggregate number of naval personnel borne and the aggregate tonnage of the Fleet have only a remote bearing on the work at headquarters, and consequently on the staff needed for its performance. With my hon. Friend's permission, I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a brief summary of some of the main reasons for increase, and if he desires a fuller explanation of the matter, I would refer him to the statement in Appendix 3 to the Second Report from the Select Committee on Estimates, 1928.

Lieut. - Colonel Sir FREDERICK HALL

Considering the large reduction in tonnage, should there not be a corresponding reduction in personnel?

Mr. ALEXANDER

It all depends on the functions to be performed. As explained on many occasions by my predecessor, the First Lord in the Conservative administration, the duties to be performed now are very much more complicated than they were before the War. I should be glad if the hon. Gentleman would look at the Paper to which I refer in my answer and satisfy himself as to the real situation.

Mr. LOUIS SMITH

Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied that there is no overlapping of duties at the Admiralty; and can he say whether an incorporation of Departments might not be made?

Following is the summary:

Some of the main reasons for the larger Admiralty staff are the following:

  1. (1) Largely increased duties, due partly to legislation and Government decisions since 1914, partly to the greater difficulty and complexity of nearly all business since the War, and partly to such post-War developments as the League of Nations, International Conferences, and more frequent Imperial Conferences.
  2. (2) The revolution in naval material, due to the necessity for providing both for and against air, submarine and mine warfare; great developments in naval guns, projectiles, torpedoes, radio-telefiraphy, electrical and other machinery; the substitution of oil fuel for coal.
  3. (3) Owing to the greater complication in the equipment of modern ships, the 469 personnel of the Fleet is more specialised and subdivided, thus rendering the work of administering it more difficult and laborious.
  4. (4) Much new work has resulted from numerous changes making for the greater contentment and welfare of the men, and all questions affecting the lower deck and industrial staffs are more closely and sympathetically studied.
  5. (5) The naval staff, of which only a bare nucleus existed in 1914, is now more adequately organised.
  6. (6) A scientific staff has been added, whose function is to bring scientific research and experiment to bear upon naval problems.
  7. (7) Much work formerly done by contractors is now done in Admiralty establishments, e.g., the manufacture of naval cordite and torpedoes, and the production of Admiralty charts.
  8. (8) There is a closer scrutiny of proposals for new expenditure, and of all items of cost of existing services, in view of the great need for economy; and up-to-date business methods of checking costs, involving the employment of professional accountants and technical costs officers have been introduced.
  9. (9) The serious under-staffing existing in almost all Admiralty Departments in 1914 has been to a large extent remedied.