HC Deb 21 September 1943 vol 392 cc41-2W
Mr. Turton

asked the Home Secretary the total number of persons on the staff of the regional commissioners on 1st July, 1940, 1st July, 1942, and 1st July, 1943, respectively?

Mr. H. Morrison

The following table gives the answer:

— Full Time. Part-Time. Total.
1st July, 1940 1,999 131 2,130
1st July, 1942 4,157 284 4,441
1st July, 1943 4,292 799 5,091

The full-time figures include, as well as office staff, uniformed National Fire Service and Police staff attached to Regional Headquarters and uniformed staff of the Civil Defence Reserve. As to the increase between July, 1940, and July, 1942, experience of heavy raiding, which began after July, 1940, showed the need for more staff to deal with the innumerable new problems involved, including the administration of the Fire Prevention Orders. Seven hundred of the total increase is due to the establishment of the N.F.S. in 1941, taking over staff previously employed by Local Authorities. The increase of full-time staff between 1942 and 1943 is more than accounted for by the increase in Civil Defence Reserve units without which it would have been impossible to secure substantial reductions in whole-time Civil Defence personnel.