HC Deb 25 November 1947 vol 444 cc275-6W
Sir E. Graham-Little

asked the Minister of Agriculture how many officials are on the pay rolls of the war agricultural executive committees; to what extent their number is being reduced as a result of the decline in the labour forces on farms caused by the return of the German prisoners; and whether he will dispense with a large number of these officials with a view to filling the 60,000 gap in agricultural workers foretold for the coming year.

Mr. T. Williams

County war agricultural executive committees employ 3,400 technical and administrative staff and 6,600 clerks and typists. The replacement of prisoners of war by European volunteer workers, Poles and other types of civilian labour will increase rather than diminish the work of committees, and no reduction in the number of staff is possible on this account.