§ Sir B. FALLEasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the constructive facilities and resources available in His Majesty's dockyard, Portsmouth, and the fact that a large portion of the naval forces are based on Portsmouth, His Majesty's Government will consider utilising His Majesty's dockyard at Portsmouth for the construction and repair of aero-planes and other aircraft required for the Royal Air Service?
§ Sir S. HOAREI am fully alive to the desirability of utilising to the utmost extent practicable existing Government resources for Government work, and the naval establishments do carry out for the Air Ministry certain kinds of work for which they are peculiarly fitted, such as the supply of torpedoes. It is, however, the policy of the Air Ministry to rely upon the aircraft industry for construction and, except to the extent necessary to maintain a minimum Royal Air Force organisation, for repairs. I do not think that it would be advantageous to transfer such work to His Majesty's dockyards.