(5) That the system whereby a Co-ordinating Committee of the three Fighting Services and other Departments deals with the allocation of oil contracts should be extended to coal and coke.

(6) That the Office of Works should purchase all furniture for the Service Departments.

(7) That all charges made by Government Departments for agency services should be reviewed by the Treasury at least once a year.

(8) That a Co-ordinating Sub-Committee of the Contracts Committee should be formed to deal with the disposal of surplus stores.

(9) That the permanent representation of the Contracts Coordinating Committee should be widened to include the Treasury, Post Office, Office of Works and other Departments.

(10) That the system of works accounting in the Fighting Services and the Office of Works should be made precisely similar.

(11) That the Works Estimates of the Air Ministry should be more precise than they are at present.

(12) That the Estimate of the Air Ministry for the staff of the new hospital at Halton should be reduced.

(13) That the establishment for recruiting in the Air Force should be reduced.

(14) That the vocational training establishments conducted by the War Office should be made available for men of the other Services.

APPENDIX.

Class of Service or Stores.

RATES OF DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSES CHARGED BY OTHER GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS TO THE AIR MINISTRY.

Supplying Departments.

(Home)

15

Labour

(Foreign) 331

...

...

Cost of purchasing, issuing and checking (Clerical Staff). Leave (Clerical).

Superannuation (Clerical Staff).

Accommodation (Clerical Staff).

Distribution, Leave, &c. (Warehouse Staff).

Administration.

Consignments of £200 or less.

Consignments above £200.

According to type.

Consignments of £133 68. 8d. or less.

Consignments above £133 68. 8d. (15 per cent. on the first

£133 68. 8d.).

1 to 5

15

10 10

...

Road work

:

10

5

Ministry of Pensions (Optical

Appliances Department).

Ministry of Transport

S. 30428.

TREASURY MINUTE, DATED THE 7TH OCTOBER, 1926, ON THE FIRST AND SECOND REPORTS FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES, 1926.

MY LORDS read the First and Second Reports from the Select Committee on Estimates. As regards the First Report They draw attention to the announcement made in the House of Commons on July 15th last by the First Lord, a copy of which is appended to this Minute for convenience of reference.

As regards the Second Report My Lords are in full agreement with the view of the Select Committee as to the importance of co-ordination of Common Services, especially between the three Fighting Services. This policy has been definitely approved by His Majesty's Government in accepting generally the recommendations of the Committee on the Amalgamation of the Services common to the Navy, Army and Air Force (the Mond-Weir Committee) (Cmd. 2649). My Lords rely on the Departments concerned to make every endeavour to secure that the various co-ordinating Committees, given the fullest scope within their respective functions and acting in close touch with the Finance Branches of the Departments, may serve as efficient instruments of economy.

Economies obtained by this means are of the most valuable order, inasmuch as they do not involve any sacrifice of Services, or indeed any sacrifice save that of the perhaps not unnatural preference of Departments to conduct their own business without outside assistance.

My Lords propose to consider these questions when They receive the Report of the Departmental Committee of Inquiry into Government Printing Establishments which is expected shortly. Meanwhile, They note the views expressed by the Select Committee.

Paragraph 5. Army and Air Force Forms Depôts.

My Lords have already given careful consideration to the question of transferring responsibility for the Army and Air Force Forms Depôts to the Stationery Office, a course which They would prefer on general grounds. The Army Council and the Air Council consider, however, that it is of vital military

importance, having regard to mobilisation requirements, &c., that responsibility should remain in their hands and My Lords have deferred to this view.

My Lords note the remarks of the Select Committee regarding the staffs of the two Depôts and their cost. They propose that the staff requirements of the Air Ministry Depôt should be the subject of a special investigation.

Paragraph 7. Costing of Hospitals.

My Lords have already had under consideration, in conjunction with officers of the War Department, the question of cost accounts of military hospitals, and agreement has been reached that full cost accounts shall be maintained as regards the seven largest Army Hospitals, and that certain records shall be maintained for other hospitals. They have informed the Air Council of the conclusions reached, and have in contemplation similar arrangements in regard to Air Force Hospitals: They propose to ask the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to confer as to Navy Hospitals, with a view to the accounts being so far as possible comparable in form. My Lords recognise, however, considerable differences between the systems necessarily operating in the hospitals of the three Services respectively, and very great differences between the hospitals maintained for fighting services and those of the Ministry of Pensions, for the main reason that, in normal times of peace, a considerable proportion of the accommodation provided for the fighting services is unoccupied. My Lords however propose to continue the consideration of the matter of cost accounts for Government hospitals with a view to the preparation of more informative accounts, and, so far as possible, accounts comparable in form.

Paragraph 8. Use of Army Mechanical Transport by the Navy and Air Force.

This question was considered by an ad hoc Committee appointed in accordance with the recommendation in paragraph 65 of the Mond-Weir Report. This Committee reported in March, 1924, that it was impossible so to co-ordinate the Road Transport Services at any station as to enable any one service to carry out the work of either, or both, the other services. Where, however, abnormal requirements arise which necessitate resort to hiring, it has been arranged that such hiring should not be permitted unless it has previously been ascertained that no assistance can be given by other services within the Command.

The question of standardisation of ambulances, inter alia, is a function of the separate Supply Technical Co-ordinating Committee set up in accordance with the recommendation in paragraph 49 of the Mond-Weir Report.

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