§ 30. Sir Herbert Williamsasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport if he is now in a position to make a further statement in respect of the working expenses of the L.P.T.B.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerAs I explained to my hon. Friend last week, there are two main reasons why the working expenses of the London Passenger Transport Board, and of the controlled railway companies, are not now published, except as a combined figure in the White Paper which is laid before Parliament every year. First, it is undesirable, for reasons of security, that it should be possible to compare the expenditure of the individual undertakings in the pool at different stages of the war, or to compare their expenditure during the war and pre-war periods. Second, under the financial arrangements made when the railways were taken under Government control, all the receipts and expenses of the controlled undertakings are pooled, and no clearances between them are made. Any figures which might be given for an individual Undertaking 1993 would, therefore, be misleading. For these reasons, I am satisfied, after full consideration, that it would not be in the public interest to publish the working expenses of the London Passenger Transport Board.
§ Sir H. WilliamsAs I understand that the real reason is that we should tell the Germans how much bombing has been done to the railways, and as this information is always released about a month after that happens, and the full pictures appear in the newspapers, what point of security arises?
§ Mr. Noel-BakerNo, Sir, I am afraid that my hon. Friend is wrong; a very great deal of important information is not published.