§ 25. Mr. Patrick Maitlandasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to how many overseas information officers and other reference material produced by the Central Office of Information for the Foreign Office, Colonial Office and Commonwealths Relations Office, is despatched; and to what extent such material is used by its recipients.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe material is sent to 161 posts, where it is used for too wide a variety of purposes to permit of enumeration within the reasonable compass of a Parliamentary answer. Uses, however, include both the answering of Press and other inquiries about this country, the countering of anti-British propaganda, and the local preparation of information material appropriate to local conditions.
§ Mr. MaitlandCan my hon. Friend say on how many occasions overseas information officers have had recourse to this material, and whether they have enough filing clerks to file it?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterFrom what we see of their output there is very good evidence that full use is made of this material, which is issued only on the recommendation of the appropriate overseas Department.
Mr. DugdaleDoes this mean that the Government have now decided that the Ministry of Information does, in fact, serve a useful purpose, in contradistinction to what they thought before?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThere is no Ministry of Information.