HC Deb 15 March 1944 vol 398 c214
10. Sir Waldron Smithers

asked the Minister of Aircraft Production what action has been, or is being, contemplated on the Report of the Select Committee on the £850,000 spent on a magnesium plant and on the discrepancy between the estimated cost of £300,000 and the actual cost of £1,600,000; and what disciplinary action is contemplated.

The Minister of Aircraft Production (Sir Stafford Cripps)

There was in 1940 an urgent need for additional magnesium producing capacity and the decision to build the magnesium plant was taken in the light of all other possible alternatives then open to the Department. It was considered by those then responsible as the most effective way of meeting the urgent need, and I see no reason to think that the decision taken was not justified. Accordingly, the last part of the Question does not arise. The other part of the Question, dealing with the discrepancy between actual and estimated cost of a magnesia factory is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Supply.

Sir W. Smithers

Surely, in the interests of the taxpayer, when there is a discrepancy between the estimate and the actual cost, this kind of inefficiency should be punished in some way or other?

Sir S. Cripps

The matter of the discrepancy is one for the Minister of Supply, as I have already stated.