Mr. Atkinsasked the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to institute a detailed costing of the operations of Transport Command, as recommended by the Estimates Committee.
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§ Mr. Merlyn ReesDuring the debate on the Air Estimates on 14th March I gave an undertaking to consider the Select Committee's recommendations with every care and to lay our comments before the House in due course in the customary manner. This is in hand.
In the meantime I would state categorically that each main component of the R.A.F. transport force is fully costed every year and comparative costings made wherever there is a choice between executing a particular task with civil aircraft or with R.A.F. aircraft, and I would say specifically that I am considering in the light of the Committee's comments whether the basis of these comparative costings could usefully be altered.