asked the Minister of Public Building and Works what is the approximate number of civil servants working in the block which includes the Foreign Office and the Home Office; and how many he estimates will be housed there if the whole area is rebuilt.

There are about 2,000 office staff of the Home Office, Foreign Office and Commonwealth Relations Office in this building at present. Until a scheme has been drawn up I cannot say precisely how many could be accommodated in a new building on this site. My aim is to bring together all the staff of the Foreign Office and Commonwealth Relations Office, at present numbering over 3,000 who must for efficient working be under one roof and who are now accommodated in the main building and 10 other buildings scattered around the central area of London.

As efficiency seems to be the justification for interfering with quite a pleasant skyline, would it not be necessary to be quite sure that a very large number of people could be housed there—if it is wise to bring more civil servants into Whitehall?

No, I do not think that it is wise to make provision for further, unnecessary staff.

Will the Minister tell his hon. Friend how many people this building was supposed to house when it was built, and will he indicate the degree of overcrowding there, which is far beyond anything ever envisaged in the Shops and Offices Act?

I cannot give the figure of how many it was supposed to accommodate in the beginning, but it was certainly very much less than the 1,900 there at present.