asked the Minister of Labour why instructions have been issued to civil servants preventing them from being officers of branches of the British Legion.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. and gallant Member for Norfolk, Central (Brigadier Medlicott) on 1st February, 1951.

Will the right hon. Gentleman reconsider this question, in view of the commonly accepted purposes of this organisation? Surely civil servants should not be prevented from holding positions in which they can help their fellow men.

I think the hon. Member has rather misunderstood the point, because this is an organisation which is concerned with questions which have also to be dealt with in my own Department, and it is undesirable that a person should, as it were, be sitting on both sides of the table.

As the area of controversy is so limited in relation to the sum total of the work of these organisations ought not the right hon. Gentleman to be capable of leaving this matter to the discretion of the civil servants?

The organisations referred to have had the matter explained to them and are satisfied.

While understanding that in some cases a civil servant's duty might cause conflict, may I ask whether the Minister will agree that it is, in general, desirable that the practice hitherto observed by Ministers, and the Civil Service, of allowing considerable numbers of people to hold these offices is a good one?

There has been no interference with that practice.