§ 46. Mr. David Rentonasked the Lord President of the Council what functions are now performed by the regional offices of the Central Office of Information.
Mr. MorrisonThe general function of the regional offices of the Central Office of Information is to act as a common service information agency for all Government Departments at the regional level. Their specific tasks include the non-theatrical distribution of information films by means of mobile projection units; the provision of a service of lectures on economic and certain other subjects to factories and local organisations; conduct of the regional aspects of Government information and recruitment campaigns; arrangements for the touring of exhibitions; the distribution of display material; conduct of tours for overseas visitors sponsored by the oversea Department concerned; the provision of Press relations services for other Departments; the provision of industrial news and of works information services under the auspices of the regional boards for industry and their district committees.
A somewhat fuller description of the work of the regional offices will appear in the Annual Report of the Central Office of Information for 1947/48 which I shall be presenting as a Command Paper in the course of the next few weeks.
§ Mr. RentonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that whatever necessary tasks these regional offices may perform they also consume a great deal of man-power, money and paper by pestering already busy people with numerous letters which serve no useful purpose and contain a tremendous amount of flapdoodle? Will he be so good as to reconsider the money spent by these offices with a view to restricting them to necessary purposes?
Mr. MorrisonThat question was a series of abstract, categorical, doctrinaire allegations, without the slightest element of substance, and might perhaps fairly be described as flapdoodle.
§ Mr. Kenneth LindsayMay we take it that this question of regional offices will be a suitable subject for the committee 560 which has been set up by the Government to inquire into the home information services?
§ Sir Stanley ReedWill the right hon. Gentleman look into this matter again in order to ascertain how many of the functions he mentioned are, in fact, discharged by the offices and how many would remain with them if the essential services were remitted to the central office?
Mr. MorrisonThis is, in principle, an economical arrangement. If there were not regional offices of the Central Office of Information the tendency would be for each State department to have its own separate regional organisation for the purpose. We have avoided that by allowing the C.O.I, to be the common service department. As I have said in answer to the hon. Member for the Combined English Universities (Mr. K. Lindsay), this matter will be within the competence of the committee which is inquiring into the cost of the information services.
§ Captain CrookshankCan the right lion. Gentleman tell us how much all this is costing?
Mr. MorrisonThe answer to that question has already been given by my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.