HC Deb 20 July 1939 vol 350 cc701-2
61. Mr. Hepworth

asked the Minister of Health whether he can make any statement as to the potential supplies of blankets to private people for billeting evacuees?

Mr. Elliot

Active steps are being taken for the acquisition and distribution to local authorities of one million blankets, tenders being obtained as the conditions of the market permit. The first instalments of their total requirements are already being dispatched to those reception authorities where a large number of children are being received under the present transport arrangements.

69. Mr. Stokes

asked the Minister of Health which parts of Ipswich he considers safe to receive children from London in case of emergency; and what steps he proposes to take to secure for the community the benefit of the increase in land values in the area so described as a result of his declaration?

Mr. Elliot

As I explained to the hon. Member in reply to his question on 13th July, I propose to discuss with the local authority the question of the number of children who could be accommodated in the most suitable parts of the town. This discussion has not yet taken place. I have no evidence that the classification of areas for the purpose of the Govern- ment evacuation schemes has the effect suggested in the second part of the question.

Mr. Stokes

Is the Minister seriously suggesting to this House that it is possible in a town the size of Ipswich to delimit the vulnerable and the invulnerable areas when aircraft are capable of travelling at 200 yards a second at a height of 10,000 feet, and does he recollect that the Secretary of State for War has only recently declared that the area is a vulnerable area and not a fit place for the manufacture of munitions of war?

Mr. Elliot

It has been frequently pointed out that the idea of evacuation is dispersal and there are areas in Ipswich which are not so densely populated as others.

Mr. Stokes

Is the Minister aware that Ipswich has already started to arrange evacuation of its own children on account of the statement of the Secretary of State for War, and is there really any sense in sending children there from other areas?

Mr. Elliot

I cannot believe that founding a munitions works in an area would make it more suitable for children.