4. Dr. Russell Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the annual cost and the number employed by the Foreign Office Research Department; and how many engaged therein are regular personnel of the Foreign Office?
§ Mr. EdenThe sum provided in the Foreign Office Estimate for the current year for the Research Department is £78,500, and the number employed is shown as 185. The Department has recently been moved from Oxford to London, and it is anticipated that the amount chargeable to the Foreign Office Vote may be rather less than the sum provided. Six of the staff are regular personnel of the Foreign Office.
Dr. ThomasDoes the right hon. Gentleman attach much value to this Department, in view of the fact that it is chiefly concerned with speculative postwar foreign policy and that very few people read the result of their cogitations?
§ Mr. EdenI do not accept any of the hon. Member's assumptions. In the first place, I certainly attach importance to the department, or I would not have agreed to the expenditure out of our funds of £78,000. The work done is not only for us but for other Government Departments. It is not speculative and is largely factual.
§ Mr. Ivor ThomasHas the right hon. Gentleman considered that the survey of 868 the foreign Press undertaken by the department is made unnecessary by the excellent daily digest of the foreign Press?