§ 61. Mr. PETOasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether Mr. C. H. Wordingham occupies the position of superintending electrical engineer under the Admiralty and is in receipt of a salary for his services; if so, whether such salary is supposed to represent remuneration for his whole time; whether he has recently been engaged in a private capacity as consulting engineer in advising the Corporation of Leicester on a proposed extension of their electricity undertakings; and whether, in view of the fact that there are other electrical consulting engineers quite capable of advising in such cases, he will see that in future such private work is left to engineers who are not in receipt of official salaries?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Dr. Macnamara)The facts are as stated in the first part of the question. On the question of 494 principle raised in the second part, I am advised that whole-time service means service within the hours of work prescribed by the Order in Council of the 10th January, 1910, together with any additional attendance that may be required by the exigencies of His Majesty's Service, and does not necessarily exclude Civil servants from other activities not involving interference with their official duties. In order to safeguard the public interest, the Order in Council referred to prohibits Civil servants from undertaking outside duties necessitating attendance during official working hours, whilst the Admiralty rules require the consent of the Board to be obtained—in this case I find the rule was not formally carried out—before any invitation is accepted to act in an expert or advisory capacity in connection with any corporation, company, or private undertaking. Without expressing as opinion on the personal case referred to, my right hon. Friend desires to endorse the view that during the War such consent should be restricted to most exceptional cases, and I can assure my hon. Friend that this principle will be acted upon in future.