§ Lieut.-Colonel JAMESasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been drawn to overtime worked in the Ministry of Health in connection with the new Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, and also in the Board of Inland Revenue: whether, in view of the answer given in this House 481W on the 10th March, 1924, to the hon. and gallant Member for South Battersea (Viscount Curzon), and, further, in view of the large numbers of redundant temporary ex-service men in the Civil Service at the present time and the further large impending reductions in staff, he will cause such overtime to be suspended in favour of providing additional employment for such redundant personnel?
§ Mr. McNEILLAs regards the Ministry of Health, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health to the hon. Member for Southwark, South-East (Mr. Naylor) on the 23rd November. Such overtime as is at present being worked by clerical grades in the Inland Revenue Department arises not so much from disparity of staff to normal requirements as from the emergency of special temporary or seasonal demands which cannot satisfactorily be met by the engagement of additional staff, particularly if such staff be without experience of Revenue work. Finally, I must not be understood as accepting the implications contained in the second part of the question with regard to the staffing of the Civil Service.