HL Deb 28 June 1962 vol 241 cc1008-9
LORD PEDDIE

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government—

  1. (1) the number of labour attachés serving with British Embassies in countries which are members of the European Economic Community;
  2. (2) whether there has been any recent reduction in the number of staff working under such labour attachés and, if so, to what extent and for what reason.]

LORD NEWTON

My Lords, there are four labour attachés serving at Embassies in the countries of the European Economic Community. They are stationed at Brussels, Bonn, Paris and Rome. The labour attaché in Brussels covers the Netherlands and Luxembourg as well as Belgium. The only recent reductions in the staffs of these labour attachés are the assistant labour attaché post at Bonn and the chauffeurs at Paris and Rome. These posts were discontinued at the end of March as part of the Ministry of Labour's contribution to economy in overseas expenditure.

LORD PEDDIE

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his reply. In view of the recent statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of his intention to reduce by 10 per cent. the overall expenditure on the Foreign Service, may I ask the noble Lord whether the cuts that have been made in the staff of the labour attachés have been greater than 10 per cent.?

LORD NEWTON

My Lords, I have told the noble Lord of the recent reductions which have been made, but I am afraid that without notice I could not say what percentage that reduction is of the total staff employed.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, in view of the importance of the work of the labour attachés, may I ask whether the out in transport facilities has also been made in the case of other attachés or are they singled out in this way for what may be a hardship?

LORD NEWTON

My Lords, the noble Lord is going rather wide of the original Question, which is about Embassies in the E.E.C. countries, but, attempting to answer without notice, I would say that so far as I am aware these are the only chauffeurs whose posts have been discontinued. If I am wrong about that, I will let the noble Lord know.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, in view of the fact that I was recently in Paris at the Embassy and heard some of the complaints there that the work has been impeded very much by the cuts in transport, without necessarily any saving in expense, because they had to take taxis in place of the transport previously available to the Embassy, would the Minister look into the question?

LORD NEWTON

My Lords, certainly I will ask my right honourable friend to consider what the noble Lord says, but I am advised that the Embassy in Paris is a large one, and, of course, they have other cars.

LORD PEDDLE

My Lords, may I draw the attention of the noble Lord to the last part of my Question, which refers to the reasons for the cuts in the staff of the labour attachés? I should be glad to know why these cuts have been made in the staff of the labour attachés.

LORD NEWTON

My Lords, I think I gave a reply to that in my first Answer to the noble Lord when I said that these posts were discontinued as part of the Ministry of Labour's contribution to economy in overseas expenditure generally.