§ Sir F. SYKESasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the present estimated annual cost of headquarters staff engaged on each of the following duties: educational, medical, chaplains, administration of food, clothing and general stores administration of technical stores, transport, staff duties, naval personnel administration, martial law, civil personnel administration, legal services, contracts, finance, accounting and audit, inspection, recruiting, lands, buildings and works, secretarial, messengers, porters and cleaners?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANA statement is appended. It has been necessary to modify slightly the headings suggested by my hon. and gallant Friend, in order to make them applicable to the business of the Admiralty.
1256WThe various functions indicated by these headings are closely interwoven in naval administration and there are many individuals who devote a varying proportion of their time to several of the functions described. Many of the staff employed in connection with the administration of common stores are also concerned with the administration of technical material, finance and accounting.
The technical Departments of the Admiralty not only design ships and fittings and stores, and inspect and report on repairs, but deal with the multitudinous technical questions arising in connection with the running of the ships on service. There is a mass of reports relating to material received daily from the Fleet and dockyards dealing with condition and performance, experiments, suggestions for improvements, inquiries as to use, and so forth. All these pass through and are discussed by the Technical and Naval, Financial, Civil and Administrative Departments concerned. The issue of instructions as to use and the answering of questions relating thereto, entail intimate knowledge of design. Conversely the preparation of design entails intimate knowledge of performance of ships and fittings in all their detail in all waters. As each function is necessary to the fulfilment of the other, and both must be performed by any organisation doing either, it is obvously not only much more economical, but much more satisfactory as regards efficiency and promptitude to combine them as they are at present. But the combination presents obvious difficulties in giving precise figures divided under the headings proposed, and the figures can only be regarded as reflecting the best opinion as to the most appropriate allocation possible as distinct from fact capable of statistical proof.
Although the cost of the Board and secretarial staff has been allocated to general administration, etc., it will be appreciated that a portion of their time is necessarily spent on questions relating to material, and administrative questions relating thereto.
Similarly, the cost of the Medical Department has been appropriated wholly to the heading Medical, although a part of the cost ought strictly to be allocated under (4) Administration of 1257W Food, Clothing, etc.; (5) Administration of Technical Material; and (8) Naval Personnel Administration, but these minute sub-divisions, however, have not been attempted.
The cost of the Chaplain of the Fleet has been allocated to heading (3), although for similar reasons a part of the cost is strictly assignable to (8) Naval Personnel Administration:
£ 1. Educational 6,150 2. Medical 17,101 3. Chaplains 2,184 4. Administration of food, clothing and "common" stores 19,028 5. Administration of technical material (includes design, building, repairing and maintenance of ships, also fuel supply and chart supply for the Fleet) 421,984 6. Transport 9,203 7. Staff duties 96,259 8. Naval personnel administration 49,843 9. Martial law 3,066 10. Civil personnel administration 16,284 11. Legal services. (The charges for law services are included in the Civil Service Estimates) 12. Contracts 75,095 13. Finance, accounting, audit 257,806 14. Inspection 41,934 15. Recruiting 2,920 16. Lands, buildings, works 60,843 17. General administration and secretarial 128,917 18. Scientific research 5,173 19. Messengers, porters, cleaners, (Vote 12B) 52,583