Captain Duncanasked the Home Secretary with reference to the reductions of the number of personnel in Civil Defence services what corresponding reductions are being made in the staff of his Ministry and of the Regional Commissioners?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonReductions of staff both at the headquarters and regional offices of my Department, amounting to some 12½ per cent. of the former and 2 per cent. of the latter, have taken place during the past 12 months. Some of these reductions are due to transfer of work to another Department. Increases or decreases in the whole-time strength of the Civil Defence Services do not automatically entail corresponding increases or decreases of office staff at headquarters or in the regions. Such matters, for example, as the general reorganisation of the services on the basis of the release of whole-time personnel and an increasing use of part-time personnel, where substitution is necessary, involve a large volume of administrative detail. The staff employed on such work, though forming a significant part of the office staff for whom I am responsible, is very small in proportion to the saving of man-power in the Civil Defence Services.