§ 59. Mr. Remnantasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what are the limited category of cases where officials have power to carry out inspections and investigations in private homes, not used for business purposes, without a search warrant; how many officials have such power, and for what purposes.
§ Mr. JayNine hundred and ninety-three War Damage Commission assessors have power to enter to assess claims on the Commission. One thousand four hundred and nine Inland Revenue valuers have power to enter to value property for Death Duties, for claims on the Development Fund and for development charges. This Department has also recently taken over rating valuation work from local authorities, and an additional 1,124 officials are now employed in its Rating Valuation Branch. These officials have power to enter to value property for rating purposes. I regret that my reply to the hon. Member for Worcestershire, South (Mr. De la Bere) on 6th April omitted this last class of officials from the category entitled to enter private homes. Since I gave that reply, I have also learned that, in the case of civil aviation, these powers are only granted on exceptional occasions, to individual officials, and, so far, this has never been done.
§ Mr. RemnantWill the hon. Gentleman be good enough to undertake to make further inquiry with a view to finding out whether all these powers are still necessary?
Mr. Leslie HaleWill my hon. Friend take this opportunity of making it clear that the means test officer, whose inspections and investigations were so much feared in the past by His Majesty's loyal citizens, is no longer in operation?