§ 10. Mr. Cocksasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft Production whether, in order to expedite production, he will cut out unnecessary elaborations in specifications; and, in view of the fact that aircraft inspection department inspectors have no authority to sanction variations from specifications but must submit all queries to the technical or designs staff for decision, he will see that these departments are adequately staffed to enable prompt replies to be given?
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft Production (Colonel Llewellin)I can assure my hon. Friend 144 that close liaison exists between the design, production and maintenance directorates of this department to ensure that unnecessary elaborations in specifications are eliminated before production commences. Suggestions from contractors for speeding up production are encouraged, and I am satisfied that consideration of such suggestions is not delayed by lack of adequate staff. In addition the local technical staff stationed at firms have since the Ministry was formed been given wider discretionary power to release equipment not conforming precisely to specification.
§ Mr. CocksArising out of that very satisfactory answer, is it not the fact that in this department we have a Minister who gets things done?
§ Colonel LlewellinYes, Sir.