§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total cost of staffing London Airport with Customs and Excise officers; and how much additional revenue is produced as a result of their activities.
§ Mr. MacDermotThe current total cost of those employed on clearing passengers' baggage at London Airport is £455,000 per annum. During the last financial year they collected £406,000 revenue. Their duties are, of course, essentially preventive.
§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is satisfied with the speed at which passengers are enabled to proceed through Customs at London Airport; and if he will institute a survey of the average times in which Customs clearance is obtained at London as compared with such other international airports at Idlewild, Orly, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, or any other such airports as he may judge to be broadly comparable.
§ Mr. MacDermotI am not entirely satisfied with the present position; nor are the Customs. They are reviewing the whole process of passenger clearance, and methods in use in other countries are being studied.