§ Mr. W. Brownasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how many civil servants whose services are no longer required by their Departments, owing to the reductions of work effected in consequence of the operation of the committee under the chairmanship of the Home Secretary, are still in the employ of the Departments in which they have become redundant; and what steps he proposes to take to facilitate their transfer to more useful spheres of activity as the committee was set up to provide a contribution to the solution of the man-power problem and to assist in the efficient prosecution of the war?
§ Mr. AsshetonDepartments have their organisations under close and continuous review with the object of cutting out work and selecting for release the greatest number of men and women who can be spared; there is an overriding direction that the staff selected should be suitable for transfer to the Forces or to war industry, and releases are effected through the national machinery for placing manpower in those fields, Designated officers216W who are not suitable for such employment or who possess special qualifications needed in other Departments are dealt with by a central pool and they are placed where their services are most required. These processes are continuous and there is no figure of redundant staff at any one point of time.