HC Deb 26 January 1960 vol 616 cc29-30W
Mr. Swingler

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil defence depôts there are in the United Kingdom.

Mr. R. A. Butler

I assume that the hon. Member has in mind depôts from which members of the civil defence services might operate in war. It is not the Government's policy that such depots should be built or acquired in peace, and my Department does not maintain central records of the places provisionally selected by local authorities for use dentists available, and the number of children who received no dental examination, in the last school year.

Sir D. Eccles

Particulars of the school dentists employed in June this year and of the children they examined during 1958 are given in the following table. Many children are examined and treated privately, but I cannot say how many.

as depôts in an emergency, as part of their civil defence planning.

Mr. Swingler

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current annual rate of expenditure on civil defence, taking central government and local authority expenditure together.

Mr. R. A. Butler

The estimated net defence expenditure by civil departments, including grants to local authorities, is shown in Annex III to the Defence Statistics 1959–60 (Cmnd. 661). The additional net expenditure by local authorities themselves estimated to be £1.248 million.