§ Mr. Bossomasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Planning whether he will establish small groups of experts in each area who can, immediately any historical building is bombed, visit the site and retrieve valuable fragments of timber, stone, etc., which formerly have been lost due to lack of knowledge of those clearing the debris?
§ Mr. HicksA scheme, in which local authorities co-operate, is already in operation for this purpose. A panel of about 340 architects covering the whole country has been appointed and lists of buildings of historic or architectural interest have been compiled. It is the duty of the architects to visit any of these buildings which suffer bomb damage. It is also the practice and duty of the inspectors and architects of the Ancient Monuments Branch of the Ministry to visit bombed towns not only to preserve valuable fragments of historic buildings but also to prevent injudicious demolition.