§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Information how many persons of German or other alien nationality are employed by the Ministry of Information and by the British Broadcasting Corporation; what are their functions; what salary do they receive; and what steps are taken to ensure that they receive no private or confidential information?
§ Mr. BrackenSix aliens are employed on the staff of the Ministry of Information, none of them of German nationality; of these four are employed on the censorship of outgoing Press material, one on publicity to the Middle East and one on the designing of exhibitions. Their salaries range from £320 per annum to £550 per annum. The B.B.C. employ 61 Germans and 303 other aliens as Announcer-Translators, Monitors, News Typists and Programme Assistants of various kinds. Their salaries range from £3 10s. per week to £1,000 per annum, the last-mentioned sum being payable only to one Programme Organiser from an allied country. Both in the Ministry and in the Corporation the officers in question have access to private and confidential information in a greater or less degree according to the extent to which the posts they occupy are responsible ones; but they are selected with this368W responsibility in view and after careful inquiry of the appropriate authority. All are supervised by British staff.