§ Dr. Petersasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Buildings whether he will give comparative figures of the tonnage of coal supplied to Government Departments in London during the past three months and that supplied to the same Departments during a similar period in 1941?
§ Mr. HicksI regret that it is not possible without undue expenditure of time and labour to give the total tonnage of fuel supplied to Government Departments in London as certain offices are housed in leased premises where heating is a liability of the lessor. The quantities of fuel supplied to premises where this Ministry is responsible for heating are as follow:
- Three months ending 30th April, 1942, 49,876 tons.
- Three months ending 30th April, 1941, 41,868 tons.
This increase is more than accounted for by the considerable expansion that has taken place during the period under review in the staffs of Government Departments and consequently in the number and area of the premises provided for them. The consumption for individual premises where conditions have remained fairly constant shows a decrease of approximately 12 per cent. over the same period.