§ 47. Mr. Lewisasked the Prime Minister whether he will appoint a Minister for Home Security and a special Department to deal with the safeguarding of the civilian population in the event of an atom and hydrogen bomb war to prepare plans for evacuating areas threatened by air attack, for feeding and accommodating displaced civilians, and the immediate construction of deep underground civilian air-raid shelters.
§ The Prime MinisterNo. I do not think that this would be a good plan at all. Preparations for civil defence are closely linked with the expansion of a wide range of normal, peace-time functions of local authorities and public utilities. It is better that the Ministers chiefly concerned with those functions should be responsible for the civil defence preparations arising out of them, subject to co-ordination by the Home Secretary and for Scotland by the Secretary of State for Scotland.