Captain CROOKSHANKasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how many civil servants, apart from the Cabinet Secretariat, receive allowances as private secretaries to Ministers and to heads and assistant heads of Depart-ments; what is the annual total of such allowances; whether they are in all cases additional to the rates of pay appropriate to the rank and seniority of the recipients; and whether in view of the need for economy, he will consider the abolition of all these allowances from the beginning of the next financial year?
Mr. GUINNESSThe allowances paid to private secretaries to Ministers and heads and assistant heads of Departments are estimated to amount in the aggregate to about £17,600 per annum exclusive of bonus. I am unable to state, without reference to all the Departments concerned, what is the total number of private secretaries or what proportion are civil servants holding the allowance in addition to the rate of pay appropriate to their grading. The abolition of all these allowances would not in my opinion be justifiable.