§ Lieut.-Colonel HURSTasked the Minister of Health whether he will consider the advisability of appointing a Committee, with functions similar to those of the Committer lately presided over by Sir Eric Geddes, in order to inquire and to recommend how and to what extent economies are practicable in the administration and expenditure of local bodies within the United Kingdom?
§ Sir A. MONDThe expenditure of local bodies is primarily a question for the local ratepayers, and it is for their representatives to take the necessary steps to overhaul their expenditure. I will send my hon. and gallant Friend a copy of a circular issued by my Department in February of last year, in which2406W I drew the attention of local authorities to the necessity for economy in local administration and urged them to review their commitments. It is within my knowledge that local authorities generally have made considerable efforts to reduce their expenditure, and, as my hon. and gallant Friend will see from the White Paper (Cmd. 1,633), which I recently issued, a reduction in the amount of rates has already occurred in many localities.