HC Deb 06 December 1954 vol 535 cc600-1
50. Mr. Willey

asked the Minister of Food the present establishment of his Department; and how this establishment is divided between the various divisions.

Dr. Hill

As the answer contains a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Willey

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware how unhappy this large establishment is at being associated with the Ministry of Agriculture?

Dr. Hill

I suggest the hon. Gentleman should take, for him, the unusual course of studying the facts before he comments.

Mr. Willey

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that I raised no inquiry until I put my supplementary question about the state of mind of the people on the establishment of the Ministry of Food?

Following are the figures:

Total number of staff employed at 1st November, 1954 6,912
distributed as follows:—
Commodity Divisions (including cereals and livestock deficiency schemes) 2,713
Finance 1,080
Common Services: establishment, typists, messengers, etc. 1,139
General divisions including food hygiene, defence and statistics 518
Regional and local offices: (the services of about 1,000 of these were dispensed with at the end of November when local offices dealing with claims from retailers for welfare milk were closed) 1,462