35. Mr. Leeasked the Minister of Labour whether he will invite the National Joint Advisory Council to recommend methods by which the level of armament production can be reduced with a minimum of disorganisation within the firms whose programmes are affected.
§ Sir W. MoncktonNo, Sir. The appropriate Departments are already in consultation with the firms concerned to try and minimise the disturbance to production and employment within the limits set by the revised defence programme.
Mr. LeeWould not the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that the Advisory Council consists of experts from both sides of the industry who had quite a lot to do with the way in which the rearmament programme was drawn up some time ago, and that people from the Departments concerned cannot pretend to be experts in this sort of field? Will he therefore look at the matter again to ensure that the way in which this is done does not involve any growth of unemployment in the course of slowing down the programme?
§ Sir W. MoncktonThis raises rather a technical production question and, although I am always anxious to get any help I can from the Council, I doubt whether they could give specific help on this question.