§ Mr. Leckieasked the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence the approximate value of contracts for rearmament material for the Admiralty, War Office and the Air Ministry, respectively, being executed by manufacturers in the county borough of Walsall; whether there are any shadow factories in the area; and, if not, what arrangements have been made for the utilisation of labour and machinery there in case of eventualities?
§ Sir T. InskipThe information asked for by my hon. Friend in the first part of his question would require an amount of work which I would not willingly impose on the Service Departments in existing conditions of pressure. It would, moreover, not be possible to collect information about Walsall and to refuse to obtain information about other places. The work entailed would be overwhelming. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative. The answer to the third is that the general problem indicated is receiving, full consideration by the appropriate Departments and plans for dealing with it are in course of preparation.