HC Deb 01 October 1941 vol 374 cc589-90W
Captain Profumo

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the fact that in some of the rural areas the numbers of Civil Defence personnel and Home Guards are very small and that men already serving in air-raid precautions and other Civil Defence services, many of whom are ex-service men who, having joined before the inception of the Home Guard, are prevented from transferring to it, he will consider instituting a greater measure of cooperative training between the various units in order that each section of the Civil Defence services or Home Guard may be available for action with either service as fire-fighters, air-raid precautions duties or defensive action, as the occasion may demand?

Mr. Attlee

There must be increasingly close co-operation between Civil Defence and the Home Guard and members of each service must be fully informed of the organisation and role of the other. The Home Guard are already giving valuable aid to Civil Defence in meeting enemy air attack. When the occasion demands defensive action the Civil Defence services will still be charged with their duty of safeguarding civilian life and property. The two services are distinct, but in some areas the authorities have found it possible to allow individual mem- bers of one service to become members of the other, and exercises are frequently held in which both services take part.

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