§ Sir A. Maitlandasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware of the view that the decision to prosecute offences against Statutory Rules and Orders should not be taken by the Order-making Department but by some independent authority, such as the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Treasury Solicitor; and whether, in view of this, he will consider the advisability of transferring the enforcement branches of all Order-making Departments, such as the Ministry of Food, the Ministry of Fuel and Power and Ministries and Departments exercising war-time control by means of Orders, to the Department of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
§ Sir J. AndersonI have been asked to reply. There is already a certain degree of centralisation of work on prosecutions of the kind mentioned by my hon. Friend. I am afraid, however, that the work of enforcement branches is too interwoven with that of the Departments which they serve to lend itself to similar treatment.
1264Wapplications for certificates of total disablement or suspension from South Wales coalminers under the Coal Mining Industry (Pneumoconiosis) Compensation Scheme, 1943, and the Pneumoconiosis (Benefit) Scheme, 1943, dealt with by the Silicosis Medical Board during the period 1st July, 1943, to 5th February, 1944: