HC Deb 07 May 1934 vol 289 cc738-9
45. Mr. CHARLES BROWN (for Mr. DOBBIE)

asked the Prime Minister whether he will take steps, by legislation or otherwise, to lay down the principle that high officials in the Admiralty, the War Office, the Board of Trade, the Home Office, the Prison Commissioners, the Board of Inland Revenue, the Colonial Office, the India Office, Scotland Yard, the Commissioners in Lunacy, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, and the Foreign Office should not hold shares in concerns dealing directly or indirectly with these Departments?

The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Ramsay MacDonald)

The principles regulating the conduct of civil servants in this and cognate matters are laid down in a Treasury Circular dated 13th March, 1928, of which I am sending the bon. Member a copy. I do not think it is either necessary or desirable to lay down more precise regulations in amplification of these principles, as their application must necessarily vary according to the position, the Department, and the work of the officer concerned.