§ Mr. T. KENNEDYasked the Minister of Pensions if he is aware of the feeling aroused in Scotland by the intimation that the Scottish Regional Office of the Ministry of Pensions is to be closed, and the work now being done there transferred to London; and if he will concede the request of the Scottish Advisory Council that the decision to transfer the widows and dependants section to London should be delayed pending Parliamentary discussion of this proposal?
§ Dr. SHIELSasked the Minister of Pensions what is the exact nature and extent of the work formerly done in Scotland, and now transferred to the Ministry of Pensions in London; is it intended to carry this process further within any definite period; and will the Scottish Advisory Council be consulted before, any such steps are taken in the future?
Lieut.-Colonel STANLEYThe work transferred from the Ministry's sub-office in Edinburgh to London consisted in the handling of claims of widows and dependants referred from the area offices. The work involved formed only a small section of the work of the regional office in Edinburgh, as may be gauged by the fact that it occupied the time of only 22 clerks, or less than one-tenth of the regional office staff. The transfer of this small branch of the work, which has now been carried out, was directed by my right hon. Friend for technical reasons. My right hon. Friend must hold himself free, in the exercise of his responsibility as a Minister, to make any change in administrative routine which he is satisfied will make for efficiency of administration consistently with the interests of pensioners. The recentralisation of the entire work of the regional office in Edinburgh is, as already publicly stated, not in issue at the present moment, though the time is probably not far distant, according to present indications, when the decline in the volume of the Ministry's work will render the retention of a sub-office unjustifiable in Edinburgh, as has already been found to be the case in other parts of the United Kingdom. When, however, the time arrives for a decision to be taken, it is my right hon. 395W Friend's intention to give his Scottish Advisory Council an opportunity of expressing their views.
§ Mr. KENNEDYalso asked the Minister of Pensions if he has considered the resolution passed by the Fifeshire War Pensions Committee, urging that no further action he taken with regard to the amalgamation of the Fifeshire area with that of the Lothians and South-Eastern Scotland area for at least six months, and until the committee had again been consulted; and if he will consider the desirability of such changes not being brought about without first consulting the area committees concerned?
Lieut.-Colonel STANLEYMy right hon. Friend considered fully the representations made by the Fifeshire War Pensions Committee, but they afforded no sufficient ground for adopting the suggested postponement of the decision. It is already the practice of the Ministry in all such cases to give the war pensions committees concerned an opportunity of expressing their views.