Colonel MASONasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the staff at His Majesty's Statistical Office, Endell Street, were refused permission to leave their premises in order to observe the Two Minutes' Silence on Armistice Day: and will he ensure that proper facilities are granted to them for this purpose in future?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAIt has been the practice for many years past in the Statistical Office of the Customs and Excise to grant facilities to members of the staff desiring to attend a particular service or ceremony outside the office in connection with the Two Minutes' Silence on Armistice Day, and it was only in certain cases last year, where no reason at all for desiring to go outside the office was given, that requests for leave of absence had to be refused.