§ Mr. Lunnasked the Home Secretary who are the chief officials in the county controller's department in the West Riding of York; what are their duties and the separate salaries paid to them; the total number of officials in this department and the cost to the State and to the local authortiy?
§ Mr. MabaneThere is no separate controller's department in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The controller's organisation is part of the office of the clerk of the county council. The controller is a solicitor in that office and the chief officers of the county council and their staffs undertake Civil Defence work in addition to their ordinary duties. None of these officers receives any special or additional remuneration for Civil Defence purposes. At county headquarters, however, there are 14 persons of subordinate grade specially engaged or seconded for air-raid precautions whose total salaries amount to £2,377 a year on which the Exchequer pays grant at the rate laid down in the Civil Defence Acts. In addition to headquarters staff there is a paid organiser for each of the 16 sub-areas into which the West Riding has been divided for Civil Defence purposes, at a salary varying from £300–£500 a year, each with a small office staff. The salaries of these officers and their staffs also attracts Exchequer grant. The county control itself is manned continuously by members of the county council's staff, all of whom give their services voluntarily and who concurrently perform their normal duties.