§ Sir K. VAUGHAN-MORGANasked the First Commissioner of Works whether the committee which he has appointed to examine the possibility of erecting new Government offices in Whitehall will, before reporting, give special consideration to the desirability of decentralising portions of the staff and housing them elsewhere, on lines similar to those adopted by the Ministries 64W of Pensions and Labour, and in the case of the Post Office Savings Bank; and whether the matters under consideration by the committee include any proposal to vary the building line on the Thames Embankment?
§ Mr. LANSBURYAn exhaustive investigation was made by an interdepartmental committee some years ago into the possibility of decentralising departmental staffs from the Whitehall area, and I am satisfied that no further steps can be taken in that direction at the present time. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative.