§ Sir C. Thornton-Kemsleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made with the creation of a single centralised administration for Ministry of Defence land.
§ Mr. ThorneycroftProgress is being made with the formation of a Defence Lands Service under the Minister of Defence (Army) who, as I explained before, is to have full responsibility "across the Board" for Services lands work.
The joint heads of the new Lands organisation, an Assistant Under-Secretary and a Directing Grade Professional, were appointed last month. They are jointly responsible for the management of the Defence Lands Service and for Defence Lands policy to the Minister of Defence (Army) through the Second Permanent Under-Secretary of State (Army). A nucleus of their headquarters staffs is being brought together next month. Thereafter the reorganisation will proceed in phases as speedily as possible. The first phase will be the unification in the London area of the 332W Service Lands headquarters and concurrently the unification of Lands work overseas. The second and more difficult phase will be the reorganisation of Lands Offices in the United Kingdom. All Service Lands expenditure and receipts, including the cost of the organisation itself, will be carried on Army Votes starting with 1965–66 Estimates, so that on 1st April, 1965, all functions of the existing Services Lands organisations will have been taken over by the Defence Lands Service. Concentration of work and staff in single Lands offices in overseas stations should be completed by that date.
On the planning of the reorganisation the Staff Side have been and will be closely consulted. The plans provide for the working in joint harness of administrative or executive and professional staffs. In this it is hoped to combine the best features of the old Admiralty, Air Ministry and War Office systems where division of responsibility between administrators and professionals was arranged in somewhat different ways. This will mean unifying various Lands procedures which now differ between the Services. Small savings in headquarters staffs and eventually larger savings in the field should result.
I am confident that in accordance with the Government's policy and the trend of opinion on these matters in the House over recent years the Service will do a good job in a difficult and important sphere in the years to come and in a way which would have been more difficult under the old tripartite system.