§ 28. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Minister of Food what reduction in the staff of his Department has been made possible by his decision to withdraw the Meals in Establishments Orders; and what will be the consequent saving to public funds.
§ Mr. WebbThe operation of the Order has never required more than a few staff and the saving will, therefore, be negligible.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterWhen the right hon. Gentleman uses the word "negligible ", does he mean there will be no reduction of staff or that there will be a small reduction? Will he say which?
§ Mr. WebbThe difficulty is that each of these particular changes which we make does not in itself dispense with a particular section of the staff. It is the overall effect of a large number of such changes. The total effect will be that the staff of our regional organisations will fall by over 5,000 in the six months ending 1st April this year, and that is the way we work it. On any particular aspect of change, it is impossible to measure the precise number of staff involved.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterCan the Minister say whether that change leading up to 1st April this year has anything whatever to do with the revocation of an Order which was not revoked until some weeks afterwards?