Mr. ROBINSONasked the Secretary of State for War the reason for the increase from £650, allowed in 1914 to the Secretary of State for private secretaries, to £2,851, the provision made in the Estimates for 1928 for the Secretary of State's personal staff?
§ Sir L. WORTHINGTON-EVANSThe total sum provided for the salaries and allowances of the private secretaries to the Secretary of State in the Estimates for 1914 amounted to £1,620. The comparable figure in the Estimates for 1928 is £2,072, the increase being mainly due to cost-of-living bonus. The £650 in 1914 referred to in the question represented allowances only, and did not cover the normal salaries of the private secretaries, nor did it include the pay of confidential shorthand writers.
Mr. ROBINSONasked the Secretary of State for War, seeing that there were only six members of the Army Council in 1914, if he will state the duties and emoluments of the seventh member of the Council for whom provision is made in the current Estimates, and the reason for the increase in the number of members of the Council, having regard to the reduction in the numbers of the Regular and Territorial Armies?
§ Sir L. WORTHINGTON-EVANSThe seventh member of the Army Council is the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for War. He is the permanent civilian head of the War Office, Accounting Officer for Army Votes, and Secretary to the Army Council. His emoluments are £3,000 a year. No new office has been created by this appointment, the only change being that by a decision of the Government in 1920 the permanent civilian head of the Department was made directly responsible to the Secretary of State for the control of expenditure, and for this purpose was given the status of242W a full member of the Council. The circumstances in which the Government decided upon this step are set out in the Fourth Report of the Public Accounts Committee for 1920 (House of Commons Paper 231).
Mr. ROBINSONasked the Secretary of State for War, seeing that in 1914 the Army Estimates provided for a librarian at a cost of £650 and an assistant librarian at £230, if he can state the reason for the provision made in the Estimates for 1928 for one librarian at £672, a deputy-librarian at £432, and an assistant librarian at £279, and a library assistant at £273; and whether there is any other difference between the assistant librarian and the library assistant beyond the fact that the former has a maximum salary of £300, plus bonus, while the latter may only rise to £280?
§ Sir L. WORTHINGTON-EVANSIn 1914 there was, in addition to the Librarian and Assistant Librarian of the General Staff Library to whom the hon. Member refers, a Library Assistant not shown separately in Estimates, as well as a Staff Clerk, shown in Estimates, 1914, under the Secretary's Department, in charge of the Parliamentary and Legal Library. The two libraries were amalgamated in 1919. With regard to the second part of the question, the maximum basic salaries of the Assistant Librarian and the Library Assistant are respectively £300 and £180. The qualifications required of, and the duties performed by, these two grades are in no way comparable.