Mr. SHIRLEY BENNasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Treasury agreed that an assistant secretary to 829W the Welsh Insurance Commission should be appointed; whether the Welsh Insurance Commissioners decided that a knowledge of Welsh was not necessary for that officer; having so decided, whether they advertised in July last for an assistant secretary, the advertisement not specifying that a knowledge of Welsh was necessary; whether, on the 13th September, the Commissioners nominated as assistant secretary an Englishman with experience of matters connected with the National Insurance Act; and whether the Treasury delayed the matter for a month, and then disapproved of the candidate selected by the Welsh Insurance Commissioners on the grounds that the person nominated could not speak Welsh?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe answer to each of the questions is in the affirmative. The Treasury regard a knowledge of the language of the Welsh people as an essential qualification for the post of assistant secretary.