§ 43. Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence what limit is placed on the amount of pay which a member of the Armed Forces may spend overseas.
§ Mr. ReynoldsThere is no limit for members of the forces who are serving on a tour of duty overseas of over four months. Personnel serving abroad for less than four months may draw their allowances for the period of duty in full; but they can normally only draw up to £10 a week or £2 a day whichever is the less.
§ Mr. HooleyBut since the 53 million citizens of this country who are not in the forces have recently been asked to accept very heavy burdens in the interests of the balance of payments, would my hon. Friend not look at this again to see whether some relief to the balance of payments would accrue by placing a modest limit on overseas expenditure by the forces?
§ Mr. ReynoldsI am not prepared to consider that members of the forces employed overseas should be dealt with differently from any other citizens who are employed temporarily overseas.
§ Rear-Admiral Morgan GilesIs the hon. Gentleman still receiving many complaints about the local overseas allowance, or is everyone now happy about it?
§ Mr. ReynoldsIt depends on what the hon. and gallant Gentleman means by "many". There have been some and I explained this in our debate last week. I also explained the detailed provisions in the debate which we had recently.