§ 5. Mr. de Freitasasked the Minister of Supply how many Royal Air Force officers are attached to his Department and establishments.
§ Mr. MaudlingSix hundred and forty-one, including 456 at establishments.
§ Mr. de FreitasIn view of the shortage of officers of this experience in the Royal Air Force, will the Minister look carefully to see whether it is not a fact that some of these experienced officers are being used on projects which merely duplicate work done by our N.A.T.O. Allies, and especially the United States?
§ Mr. MaudlingI am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Air for making these very valuable officers available to me. I have very 1042 much in mind the point raised by the hon. Member about duplication with our Allies and can assure him that we are making every effort we can to avoid duplication of weapon development with our Allies. It is, however, a fairly wide question which the hon. Member has raised.