§ 23. Mr. Boyceasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry, of Works and Planning whether he is satisfied that the best use is being made of the emergency machinery which was set up at considerable cost by his Department to deal with emergency conditions; and whether the Regional Emergency Committees are being relegated to perform 1015 relatively minor duties which are disproportionate to the expenditure of the time and public money incurred?
§ Mr. HicksThe hon. Member is presumably referring to the voluntary bodies known as the Works and Buildings Emergency Organisations which were established in all regions as a result of our experience of the air raids of 1940–41. They have performed and are performing admirably the work for which they were established, that of first-aid repair. They also form an essential of our machinery for other emergency duties. In addition, they are recognised and used by this Ministry as the advisory bodies in respect of the selection of local contractors to tender for work to be carried out in their respective areas and their utilisation in this respect is increasing. I do not think we, or they, consider these to be minor duties and the valuable services which these organisations have rendered in the recent blitzes amply compensate for the time and the small amount of public money involved.