§ Sir T. Cookasked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether he will state the number of firms in the county of Norfolk who are at present working 1035W under Government contracts; and the total value of orders thus placed?
§ Mr. W. S. MorrisonTo extract from the records of the Departments concerned the information required by my hon. Friend would involve an additional amount of work which must be recognised as undesirable under existing conditions of pressure.
I would add that the extent to which the sub-contracting system is employed by many firms holding main Government contracts would render any such information, which would necessarily relate only to direct contracts, entirely unrepresentative of the actual position in a particular locality.