§ 63 and 64. Colonel Viscount Suirdaleasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the total number of men between the ages of 18 and 38 who are engaged in full-time duties in Civil Defence at the present time;
(2) what is the total number of men between the ages of 18 and 38 who are engaged in full-time duties with the N.F.S. at the present time.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI regret that no recent figures are available, but in January last about one-fifth of the whole-time male members of the Civil Defence Reserve and General Services were in this age group. The great bulk of these men were in the Rescue Service, and over the age of. 34 Of the men in the National Fire Service about 60 per cent. were in the age group in question; but the number of men under 34 was some 25 per cent, of the total whole-time male strength of the service. It would not be in the public interest to give the numbers of men concerned.