asked the Postmaster-General what recent investigations have been made into the organisation and methods employed in the Post Office Savings Department; what recommendations have been made; and to what extent they are now being implemented.

If my hon. Friend has in mind investigations by organisation and methods officers, the answer is that they have examined only limited problems and have not yet made any survey of the whole Department. A full scale inquiry by organisation and methods officers into the Savings Bank side of the work is, however, about to start. Investigations of this nature are, of course, constantly proceeding as part of the normal responsibility of the Head of the Department, and an independent inquiry was made in 1942. I fully recognise the value of periodical investigations, which will be undertaken as time and staff permit, but I must emphasise that the Savings Department has carried out with great success the formidable problem of adapting itself to meet an enormous expansion of work in conditions of shortage of staff and of accommodation which have imposed severe limits upon the possibilities of altering processes in detail. The inquiry now starting will be largely directed to examining whether further mechanisation or a change in the present system is desirable.

If my right hon. Friend is not satisfied that he has a sufficient number of qualified people on his staff to do this work, will he consider asking the Organisation and Methods division of the Treasury to help him with it?

We have a qualified staff for this work and they are doing it.