§ Mr. Strawasked the Secretary of State for Defence what are the conditions of appointment of Messrs. Lazard Brothers and N. M. Rothschild as advisers to the Royal ordnance factories and the Ministry of Defence; what will be the estimated total cost of these appointments; and to which vote these will be chargeable.
§ Mr. PattieMessrs. N. M. Rothschild and Sons has been appointed by the Ministry of Defence to advise on the commercial aspects of the legislation proposed to change the Royal ordnance factories' (ROFs') status; and Messrs. Lazard Brothers by the ROFs to advise on financial and related questions arising in the period of transition. Their conditions of appointment vary but each is paid from Vote 2 and the Royal ordnance factories' trading fund respectively, at prescribed intervals according to work done. It is impossible at this stage to estimate precisely how much work this will involve, and any attempt to calculate a total cost could be seriously misleading.