HC Deb 10 July 1939 vol 349 cc1807-9
60. Mr. McEntee

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether the air-raid precautions officer in a London borough is to be permitted, after the Civil Defence Bill comes into operation, to examine and certify plans for air-raid shelters in factories or commercial buildings?

The Lord Privy Seal (Sir John Anderson)

Under Clause 14 (1) of the Civil Defence Bill the reports in regard to air-raid shelters made by the occupiers of factories are to be submitted to the factory inspector for the district, and those made by the owners of commercial buildings to the appropriate local authority. It will rest with the local authorities to decide which of their officers shall deal with those reports which are required to be submitted to them.

Mr. McEntee

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Chief Factory Inspector has written to a factory owner who submitted plans to him: In this case the proper authority for the submission of your scheme is the air-raid precautions officer"; and are we to understand that the airraid precautions officer is to succeed to the duty hitherto performed by the local engineer and surveyor?

Sir J. Anderson

I assume that that must be a mistake of the Air-Raid Pre cautions Department. I will look into the matter.

61. Mr. McEntee

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether when premises are occupied in their entirety by two separate limited companies, each having its own entirely separate factory within the building, they should submit reports and plans for airraid shelters for their staffs to the factory inspector or to the local authority for the district; and whether it is intended that the fact that more than one factory uses a single building should make such a factory building rank as a commercial building under the Civil Defence Bill?

Sir J. Anderson

The effect of Clause 89 of the Civil Defence Bill is that a building which contains a factory but is not occupied wholly by the occupier of that factory is regarded for the purposes of the Bill as a commercial building, and, if the building is one to which Part III of the Bill applies, the necessary reports will be furnished by the owner of the building to the local authority.

Mr. McEntee

Am I to understand from the right hon. Gentleman that if two factories, as in this case, are in the building, the building ceases to be a factory and becomes a commercial building, and if that is so, will not everything be complicated all over the country?

Sir J. Anderson

Where there is more than one employer in the building the obligation under the Act is put not on the occupier but on the owner. That is the criterion. In the case of a factory which occupies one building the obligation is on the occupier. In the case of a composite building, whoever may be the occupier, the obligation is on the owner. This building is referred to as a commercial building and reports have to be sent to the local authority.