HC Deb 13 April 1938 vol 334 cc1141-2W
Mr. R. Duckworth

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the number and names of the Government Departments in which the staffs have been warned not to volunteer for air-raid precautions work, as their services will be otherwise needed?

Lieut.-Colonel Colville

I am not aware that any Department has issued a general warning in the sense suggested. The policy of His Majesty's Government is that members of the staffs of Government Departments should be encouraged to volunteer for service during their spare time on air-raid precaution duties. Certain staffs, e.g. the telegraph, telephone and engineering staffs of the Post Office, will be fully occupied in an emergency on the maintenance of essential National services In these and similar cases it is

Captain Wallace

The following table shows the quantity of coal exported from the United Kingdom to British and foreign countries, respectively, during the years specified.

considered that better service will be rendered if the individuals concerned undertake air-raid duties connected specifically with the establishment in which they are employed in preference to offering themselves for the more general work to be undertaken by local authorities.