HC Deb 08 July 1943 vol 390 cc2231-3
20. Mr. Ritson

asked the Home Secretary whether he has any statement to make on the proposed changes in the national air-raid warning system?

Mr. H. Morrison

The Government have had under consideration methods of improving the air-raid warning system. The efficiency of a warning system depends on the nature and speed of the information of the movement of enemy aircraft available to the warning officers and the speed with which warning messages can be transmitted from the warning officers to the districts to be warned. As a result of a reorganisation of Observer Centres carried out by the Air Ministry, means have been found by which both these processes will be improved, but in order to avoid giving useful information to the enemy, it is not possible to say more than that the steps agreed by the Secretary of State for Air, the Postmaster-General and myself are now in train and should result in an improvement in the warning system. They will involve an appreciable decentralisation in the method of giving warnings and some transfer of further responsibility to my Department. The necessary work is now in hand, and the new system will be brought into operation gradually as this work is completed and tested. The changes, while aiming at greater efficiency, will not involve an alteration in the types of warning issued nor any restriction or amendment of the existing warning recipients. The Government's policy remains as in the past, to restrict air-raid warnings to those areas in which an attack is considered likely to develop, and it should be borne in mind that whatever improvements are made in the warning system it is not automatic but depends on many human factors. While, therefore, every effort is being made to make it as effective as possible, no guarantee can be given that the presence or intention of every hostile aircraft can be correctly interpreted.

Mr. Thorne

When my right hon. Friend has decided to make an alteration in the air-raid warnings, how is he going to convey that information to the general public before the warning starts?

Mr. Morrison

It will be conveyed to the general public by the ordinary siren. There is no other method by which it can be conveyed. There will be nothing to tell the public, and there will be nothing for the public to do except to listen for the warning as now.

Colonel Sir A. Lambert Ward

Is it not a fact that under the present system bombs have arrived in many cases before the sirens were sounded?

Mr. Morrison

Sometimes that is so, and we are hoping by the new organisation to improve that situation, but I cannot guarantee that the same will not happen in the new circumstances.