No, but it is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Food to settle ex-Service men and women. I think, when I give the explanation and the figures, the hon. and gallant Member for Holderness will understand why my right hon. Friend said that the conditions in the Ministry of Food are entirely different from those in the Ministry of Agriculture. In the first place, there are only 5,900 people in the Ministry of Agriculture, against 46,000 in the Ministry of Food, and those in the Ministry of Agriculture are mostly permanent officials.

I should also explain that the reason why it was administratively difficult for us to give this information was that our officials are distributed throughout the country, while those in the Ministry of Agriculture are mostly at headquarters, and I am told that these files are kept at headquarters. The Ministry of Agriculture consists chiefly of permanent officials. The Ministry of Food is comprised as to the great Majority of temporary workers, in fact 98 per cent. In order to obtain some information for the hon. and gallant Gentleman I asked our officials to examine and break down the numbers of staff employed at headquarters and in the headquarters offices, that is, excluding Oxford. There are 6,000 people employed, of whom 1,890 or 30 per cent. are ex-Service, and of the permanent staff, 356 out of 962, or 37 per cent. are ex-Service personnel. Now, if we tried to obtain the figures for the whole country it would mean examining outside headquarters, the personal files of 40,000 people who are distributed in 13,000 or more offices and I think the hon. and gallant Member would agree with me that our staffs at the moment are very hard pressed. We have not calculated how many man hours that research would take but when my right hon. Friend said that the task which he was asked to undertake was of much greater magnitude than that of the Ministry of Agriculture he was quite correct.

May I say a word for those serving in our local food offices? I think hon. Mem- bers will agree with me that in a total war is is not necessarily the individual who wears uniform who faces the greatest danger, and those people throughout the country working as they did in many vulnerable areas, kept this food machine of ours working without, I think, any serious breakdown of any kind. I know myself of a number of food offices which were blitzed. I know full well many of the people, including married women, who faced up to all sorts of perils, and I hesitate to say that because these people were not called up, they should not at this stage be given the same consideration as those who were called up. I think the hon. Gentleman will agree with me that those who experienced war on the Home Front showed as great a degree of bravery as those who were abroad, and it is very difficult today to say that a person who had not been directed to the Services should receive different treatment. Many of the men and women with the Food Ministry and other Ministries were directed there during the war. An individual could not choose his or her work. Many were encouraged to stay in the Ministry of Food and some were directed there, rather than to the Services. The hon. and gallant Member surely would not ask us to displace these people by ex-Service personnel.

May I say a word about married women? In the "Evening News" tonight I saw a cartoon which I think was very appropriate and to which I would like to direct the attention of the hon. Member for Wavertree (Mr. Raikes). I must confess I was very surprised to hear the hon. Member's remarks because I remember that during the war he and I attended an unforgettable meeting in the North of England where he encouraged married women to learn to shoot and I supported him. We presented a united front on that occasion. We felt that if the Huns came, married women would be quite as capable of shooting at them and defending their homes, as would single women or men. I know the enthusiasm which the hon. Member expressed for the attitude which the women were showing in those days. Yet he comes to the House tonight and says, "These women must be replaced." I would direct his attention to the cartoon in the "Evening News". It depicts an official from the Ministry of Labour going into the kitchen of a harassed woman standing over the sink, and offering her a bouquet and a large box of chocolates, to tempt her to come out of the kitchen and into industry.