§ 56. Mr. Garry Allighanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will initiate an investigation, either by a Treasury Committee, Select Committee, or some other body, into the increase in non-productive labour now drawing State salaries with a view, by drastic pruning, to diverting manpower into essential work and avoiding the growth of a vast bureaucracy.
§ Mr. DaltonInstructions have been issued to all Departments to take the numbers of staff employed on 1st January, 1947, as a maximum figure, which must not be exceeded without special authority, and to lose no opportunity of making reductions below this maximum.
§ 59. Mr. Garry Allighanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether in order more economically to use manpower, he will take the necessary steps to engage ex-Servicemen between 60 and 65 years of age, but physically and mentally fit, as temporary civil servants, in order to release younger men for industry.
§ Mr. DaltonNo, Sir. I hope to see a reduction in the Civil Service, not merely a substitution of older for younger civil servants.