§ 15. Mr. Walter Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for War what is the total rent and the rent per unit paid by the War Office for pill-boxes erected to repel the 1940 invasion and for other military purposes; and what proportion of these pill-boxes are being used and for what purposes.
§ Mr. ShinwellThe War Office does not pay rent in respect of land occupied by defence works, but compensation based on the diminution of the annual value of the land. No separate figures are available for land occupied by pill-boxes as distinct from other defence works, and it would not be possible to give them without a disproportionate amount of work. There is no fixed scale of compensation per unit as the diminution in value of the sites would vary greatly with the location of the site and the size of the defence work. No pill-boxes are at present being used for military purposes.
§ Mr. FletcherIn view of the sense of urgency which, no doubt, now fills the War Office, will the right hon. Gentleman try to get this matter cleared up both by active and passive consideration?