§ 20. Sir Ian Orr-Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has any plans to move his Department to the Cardiff area; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe dispersal of Ministry of Defence posts from London to Cardiff was first announced by my right hon. Friend on 22nd November, 1967. I would also refer the hon. Gentleman to my hon. Friend's Answer of 3rd April of this year.—[Vol. 754, c. 368; Vol. 781, c. 180.]
§ Sir Ian Orr-EwingWill the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that a Select Committee queried the efficiency of having part of the Admiralty at Bath and part in London? As we now have an enormously inflated headquarters organisation of the three Services in London, would it not be better to streamline that first and try to get the parts together so that we get the higher efficiency to the need for which the Select Committee drew attention?
§ Mr. HattersleyI am aware of what the Select Committee said and I am also aware of the obligation placed on the Government to produce as much employment as they can in the regions, and our dispersal to Cardiff is part of that policy. As the second part of the hon. Gentleman's question contains a hypothesis which is so wildly untrue as to be farcical, there is no point in my commenting on the conclusions he draws from it.