§ Rear-Admiral Beamishasked the Lord President of the Council what is the attitude of the Government towards the establishment of a central scientific and technical board proposed by the Motion now on the Order Paper in the name of the hon. Member for Chatham (Captain Plugge) and supported by the Association of Scientific Workers?
[That this House is of the opinion that present circumstances require the early establishment of a whole-time Central Scientific and Technical Board to coordinate research and developments in relation to the war effort and to ensure that the experience, knowledge and creative genius of British technicians and scientists exert a more effective influence over the conduct of a highly-mechanised war.]
§ Sir J. AndersonIn the view of the Government the best method of utilising the scientific resources of the country for the purposes of the war is to ensure that each Ministry or Department has available to it skilled service of the requisite quality and to provide for the necessary co-ordination by arrangements appropriate to the particular circumstances where the same or similar problems are the concern of more than one department. It is in pursuance of this conception that my right hon. Friend the Minister of Production has just added to his staff, on a whole-time basis, three men of scientific and technical eminence, who will work under the immediate supervision of the Lord Privy Seal acting for this purpose on his behalf.