§ Mr. Sharpasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the considerable delay in accounting for the expenditure of the Control Office for Germany and Austria; what is the approximate total amount of overpayments made to staff who have since left the service; and what action is being taken to recover such overpayments and prevent them from being made in the future.
§ Mr. MayhewYes, I am aware of the report. The overissues outstanding against staff who had left the service up to 30th April, 1947, totalled £38,271. Of this amount £16,459 has been recovered, leaving £21,812 still owing. Continued applications for repayment are being made and no part of the outstanding amount is yet regarded as a bad debt. Urgent steps have been and are being taken to correct the two prime causes of overpayments, namely, delays in receipt of particulars of local drawings in Germany and Austria and failure to receive prompt record of dates when pay should cease on account of unforeseen terminations of employment.