HC Deb 07 August 1941 vol 373 cc2081-2
26. Mr. Edmund Harvey

asked the Home Secretary why the report of the Prison Commission for 1938 has not yet been published; and when is it to be issued?

Mr. H. Morrison

The report to which my hon. Friend refers was published in December, 1939, but owing to the need for economy in labour and paper it has been decided to suspend further issues of the report, in common with many other Departmental publications, for the period of the war.

Mr. Rhys Davies

Is it not possible to publish a condensed report instead of a full one?

Mr. Morrison

It is not only a question of the amount of paper required, though that, of course, is important, but of the labour available in these very difficult times, when there is a great strain upon our administrative machine.

Mr. Harvey

Does not the report exist in manuscript, and could not a brief summary be issued?

Mr. Morrison

But that would have to be prepared and would mean labour, and I can assure the House that the strain on the administrative organisation of the Home Office, with all the additional security matters with which it has to deal is very considerable.

Mr. Sorensen

Could not some of the essential figures be put in the annual abstract?