§ 52. Brigadier-General SPEARSasked the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, whether he will state upon how many occasions since his appointment the chiefs of staff sub-committee has met and upon how many occasions he himself has presided at its meetings?
§ Sir T. INSKIPIt has not been the practice to state the number or frequency of meetings of individual committees of the Committee of Imperial Defence, and I should deprecate doing so now, because 904 the figures might be very misleading for the purpose of estimating the amount of work in progress. In this particular case they would afford no index of the amount of consultation which takes place almost daily between the chiefs of staff and myself.
§ Brigadier-General SPEARSMay I ask how often my right hon. Friend has taken the chair at meetings of the committee?
§ Sir T. INSKIPThat is precisely the information which I suggest to the House it is not advisable to give. I am, of course, in the hands of the House if I am pressed to give the figures.