§ 72. Mr. Swinglerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the nature, purpose, planning, and cost of the civil defence exercise Exodus One in North Staffordshire on 10th May, stating, in particular, the number of bombs assumed to have dropped, the number of casualties assumed to have been caused, the number of persons evacuated, and the use made of air raid shelters in Audley and Halmerend in the rural district of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerThe purpose of the exercise was to test techniques for clearing the public from a highly radioactive rural area containing no casualties from blast or fire. Fall-out was assumed from one bomb exploded some thirty miles distant, and rather more than 1,000 people were cleared. I am not aware that any use was made of air raid shelters. Details of the cost of the exercise are not yet available.