§ 72. Mr. Purbrickasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether, with a view to reducing the rigidity of mind and the habit of reference from one official in the Civil Service to another, he will decentralise responsibility, placing more responsibility on officials to act on their own initiative, making them more self-reliant and so speed up official methods?
§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Captain Crookshank)I cannot accept the generalisation in the first part of my hon. Friend's Question, but as regards his actual suggestion the responsibility for the organisation of Departments rests, of course, with the appropriate Ministers, and I am sure that they may be relied upon to take all the steps necessary for the speedy despatch of business.
§ Mr. PurbrickAre we to take it from that reply that the Government are opposed to rationing red tape?
§ Captain CrookshankI could not hear that.