§ Mr. G. Johnson Smithasked the Minister of Transport whether he has yet determined the commencing capital debts due to him of the five nationalised transport undertakings established under the Transport Act, 1962.
§ Mr. MarplesYes. I have made an Order, with the approval of the Treasury, prescribing the amount of each debt and of the suspended debt of the British Railways Board. The debts, and the rates of interest I shall be prescribing, are as follows:
§ Mr. MarplesMy Department has its own Organisation and Methods Branch, which is available to deal with any problems of organisation and efficiency within the Ministry as they arise. The Branch has, over the last few years, worked out several major schemes for reorganisation in the interests of efficiency, and has devised many improvements in methods to save manpower. The Branch has also 97W assisted the administrative divisions concerned in the implementation of agreed schemes.
All Ministry of Transport Organisation and Methods officers are trained by the appropriate Treasury Division, and my staff keep in close touch with the Treasury officers. The latter have taken part in five major assignments over the last two years, two of which are still continuing, and have given information and advice on numerous other occasions.
Whilst my Department has not so far found any need to employ outside management consultants, it has used experts in other fields and would certainly seek management consultants for work which seemed likely to be outside the scope or experience of civil servants.