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Ministries (Economy)

Volume 474: debated on Thursday 27 April 1950

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45.

asked the Prime Minister, in view of the need to effect savings in national expenditure, what consideration he has given to the possibility of reducing the number of Ministries, especially those such as the Ministry of Supply, which were established purely or principally for the purposes of facilitating the war effort.

All aspects of the machinery of Government, including not only the division of functions between Departments but also the organisation of the Departments themselves, are constantly under review with the general object of securing the maximum of efficiency at minimum cost. While changes in the redistribution of functions between Departments will clearly be necessary from time to time, I am not satisfied that any of the Departments, created when the country was being organised for war and which are still in being, could be abolished without loss of efficiency.

When will the right hon. Gentleman and the Government awaken to the facts about the gravity of our present economic situation, and, indeed, to the facts of life generally? Do they not realise that they must and could save in a big way by getting rid of redundant Ministries and their Ministers and the hordes of highly paid staffs?