§ Mr. CAPEasked the Minister of Labour what economy, if any, has been effected in the Finance Department of the Ministry of Labour as a result of the recommendations of the Barnes Committee?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe Committee made a number of recommendations which indirectly affected the Finance Department, and a specific recommendation that the Central Claims and Record Office at Kew, which is attached to the Finance Department, should be immediately overhauled with a view to curtailment, simplification, and economy. Following upon this recommendation, an Inter-Departmental Committee, presided over by the Director of Establishments of the Ministry of Labour, was set up to consider the possibility of modifying and simplifying the work of the Claims and Record Office.584W Some of the recommendations of that Committee were immediately adopted and others were under consideration when the Geddes Committee was appointed. The Geddes Committee, who saw the report, endorsed and adopted practically all the outstanding recommendations made by the Inter-Departmental Committee and included them in their Report. The Geddes Committee also recommended that steps should be taken to consider the relations of Unemployment and Health Insurance, with particular reference to a joint contribution card—a matter which had already been under discussion between the Minister of Health and myself—and a representative Committee of the two Departments presided over by the Government Actuary is now meeting to consider the possibilities of action. With regard to economies, I may point out that the staff of the Finance Department (Headquarters) of the Ministry of Labour has declined by 33 per cent, since the date of the Barnes Committee Report. The staff of the Claims and Record Office at Kew, however, has had to be increased because of the growing pressure of unemployment and the widely extended provision for meeting it by Unemployment Insurance.