§ 27. Commander Purseyasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty when he will produce a revised version of the 1909 1329 Memorandum on Greenwich Hospital to give the present details of properties, investments, income and pensions; and what is the proportion in which the income is appropriated for pensions and other purposes and administration.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingThe publication of a memorandum on the lines of that issued in 1909 would be very costly in time and money and we do not feel able to justify it. We are however publishing this year an illustrated memorandum on the history of the Royal Hospital School to mark the 250th anniversary of its foundation and I will arrange for a few copies to be placed in the Library.
I estimate that in the current financial year the income will be spent in the fallowing proportions: pensions 22.5 per cent.; Royal Hospital School 60.7 per cent.; estates 10.8 per cent.; and administration 6 .0 per cent.
§ Commander PurseyDoes the Civil Lord appreciate that Greenwich Hospital is a £4 million organisation, that some of the property is Crown property held by the Admiralty in trust for Her Majesty and the benefit of pensioners, that its estimates have been subject to scrutiny by the House for more than a century, and that it is essential for hon. Members to have full and up-to-date information fully to discuss the estimates this year, a debate which we expect will take a long time and which, unless arranged for early in the day, may go on all night?
§ Mr. Orr-EwingYes, Sir.