§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state what are the composition and terms of reference of the Committees appointed by him to advise the Treasury on contract arrangements and to inquire into the temporary staffs of Departments?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe Treasury has appointed a Committee consisting of Lord Inchcape, G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I.,, K.C.I.E. (chairman), Lord Colwyn, and Sir Peter H. McClelland, K.B.E., with the following terms of reference:
The Treasury has also appointed a Committee consisting of Sir John Bradbury, K.C.B., Secretary to the Treasury (chairman), Mr. N. F. Warren Fisher, C.B., Deputy-Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, Mr. J. Rostern, Chief Goods Manager, Great Central Railway, and Mr. C. F. Wood, banker, with the following terms of reference:
- "(i.) To inquire into the steps which have been taken by the Admiralty, War Office and Minister of Munitions to control contract prices and to limit profits;
679 - (ii.) to consider in what respects the practice of these Departments can be co-ordinated and improved; and
- (iii.)to make any other recommendations which they deem desirable in the public interest."
"To inquire into the numbers and organisation of the clerical staffs employed in the new Ministries created and in other Departments in which large additions to the staff engaged have been made since the beginning of the War, the method of recruitment and the rates of remuneration, and to report what measures should in the opinion of the Committee be taken to secure better co-ordination in respect both to recruitment and organisation to effect economies in numbers and cost, and to prevent overlapping."