§ Vice-Admiral Hughes Hallettasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement about the refusal of the St. Pancras Borough Council to discharge its civil defence functions.
§ Mr. R. A. Butler:On 11th April, I was informed that the General Purposes Committee had submitted to the Council the recommendations that as from the 1st June, 1957, all civil defence activities in St. Pancras should be discontinued by the Council; that the civil defence staff should be absorbed into other departments of the Council: and that all properties belonging to the Council, at present being used for civil defence, should be handed over to the Housing Department.
The Committee sought to justify its recommendations by references to the White Paper "Defence: Outline of Future Policy". I therefore caused the Council to be informed on 25th April that the Committee was under a misapprehension: and that the White Paper 78W stated that civil defence would continue to play an essential part in the defence plan: the Council was further informed that the Government were satisfied that should the deterrent fail to prevent war civil defence preparations made in advance would save very many lives that might otherwise be lost and do much to provide a framework for the preservation of organised society.
I asked the Council for an assurance that it would continue to carry out its civil defence functions, which would remain no less important than they had been in the past. But, on 2nd May, I was informed by the Council that it could not give this assurance and had approved the recommendations of the General Purposes Committee.
The Council will have today received a letter informing it that if it adheres to the proposals in those recommendations I shall have no alternative but to invoke my powers under the Civil Defence (General) Regulations, 1949, whereby, if I am satisfied that any local authority has failed or refused properly to discharge any of its civil defence functions for which I am the responsible Minister, I may either empower myself to discharge those functions in the name and at the expense of the Council or appoint some other authority or person to do so.
With the agreement of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government. I have also had the Council informed that similar action will, if necessary, be taken by my right hon. Friend, who is the other designated Minister concerned with civil defence functions conferred on the Borough of St. Pancras: that should it become necessary to exercise these powers because of the continued refusal of the Council to discharge its civil defence functions, no grant will be payable to the Council in respect of those functions; and that the civil defence premises and staff in St. Pancras will continue to be required for civil defence purposes.