Major Lloydasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will make a statement as to the result of the review of the Government information services.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterYes. As announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his statement today, it has been decided that expenditure on Government information services in 1952–53 shall be reduced by at least £1.2 million below the 1951–52 figure. The savings on overseas information services will be £500,000, and on home information services £700,000. In view of rising costs, the real reduction in activities will, of course, be substantially greater.
The £500,000 cut on the overseas information services total of £5.5 million (excluding the B.B.C. Overseas Services) will be shared between the services carried out directly by the overseas Departments, those carried out by the Central Office of Information and Stationery Office on their behalf, and those carried out by the British Council. The grant-in-aid for B.B.C. overseas services will not be reduced, but will remain at its 1951–52 figure of £4.75 million.
13WThe £700,000 cut in home information services represents over 20 per cent. of their 1951–52 total of £3.4 million. In general the cost of Departmental public relations staffs and of the publicity carried out directly by Departments will be cut by about 10 per cent., though in some cases by a good deal more. The rest of the cut will be found from services provided by the Central Office of Information and the Stationery Office. Production of films by the C.O.I. will cease, which involves the closing down of the Crown Film Unit and the giving up of its premises at Beaconsfield. Distribution of films by C.O.I. mobile vans will be discontinued as will other performances paid for by the C.O.I. Films in the Central Film Library will still be available to individuals or organisations on loan. A system of charges for these loans is under consideration.
In addition, the C.O.I. Lecture Service will be closed down. Expenditure on exhibitions will be reduced by approximately one-half and all other activities will be carried on with the maximum of economy.
The total reduction in the net cost of the Central Office of Information will be about £500,000, and its staff will be reduced by about one-third, though this latter reduction will not be completely achieved by the end of this financial year.