§ Mr. Nuttingasked the Under Secretary of State for Air, what number of builders in S.E.A.A.F. he has found it necessary to exclude from release under the block scheme, on the grounds of the need for their services for airfield, construction.
§ Mr. StracheyThe number of builders—all in the supervisory trades—who have had to be excluded from Class "B" block release is 123, for the whole of the R.A.F.—the figure for S.E.A.A.F alone is not readily available. We shall have to hold this relatively small number of supervisors just because we are, during this year, cutting down the total number employed in our Airfield Construction Service in the most drastic way—in round numbers from 21,000 at the end of last year to 2,500 at the end of this year. And this can only be done by the large scale employment of local labour which requires skilled supervision.