asked the President of the Board of Trade what increase in personnel and salary there has been in the Public Relations and Press Departments of his Ministry as compared with the position before the war?

The Press work of the Board of Trade before the war occupied part of the time of officers of a branch also concerned with other work. No close estimate of the cost of the Press work as such can therefore be made, but the annual cost of the salaries of the two officers mostly concerned was approximately £800. War conditions have necessitated grave interference with trade and industry, and in order to keep the public informed of the changes involved it was thought desirable to set up a Public Relations and Press Office. Details of the present personnel and the cost were given in the reply which I gave to my hon. and gallant Friend, the Member for Epsom (Sir A. Southby) on 29th April, a copy of which I am sending to him.

Does the hon. and gallant Gentleman think that Public Relations are the duties of Ministers and not the duties of civil servants because they involve matters of controversy?

I think it is a duty both of Ministers and civil servants. It is necessary and desirable that Departments should have civil servants whose task it is to keep the public informed of the many changes that have taken place necessitated by the war.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Buildings approximately how many of the 13,510 members of staff of his Ministry, performing duties of a technical nature, are below the call-up age limit; and whether he will release these to join the Forces and replace them by experienced technicians above Service age?

There are approximately 800 of the professional and technical staff who were below the age of reservation when they registered for military service; of this number 126 are to be released, 48 are medically unfit for service, 130 are still under consideration for release and application for deferment of call-up has been made for the remainder, approximately 500. Efforts have been and will continue to be made to obtain suitable substitutes for this number, which includes architectural staff, engineers and estate agents.

In view of the great difficulty from which middle-aged architects and engineers are suffering at the present time, could the Parliamentary Secretary state whether it is the policy of his Ministry to do the same with experienced and established architects and drive them out of business in the same way as the medium-sized experienced builders have been driven out of business?