HC Deb 13 March 1918 vol 104 cc304-5
40. Colonel L. WILSON

asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the Military Service (Civil Liabilities) Department is sending a letter to officers who are in receipt of Grants from his Department stating that the increase in the officer's pay, together with the new allowance for children, will, in a large proportion of cases, render unnecessary the continuance of a Grant from the Department; and, if so, whether, in view of definite statements made in the House of Commons that this general increase in the rate of pay shall not affect the Grants which have been made, he will issue the necessary instruction that this and similar letters shall be withdrawn?

The PRESIDENT Of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD(Mr. Hayes Fisher)

Grants, including grants for the maintenance of children, are made by the Military Service (Civil Liabilities) Department to officers who are unable by reason of their military service to meet certain financial obligations and are thereby exposed to serious hardship. The recent increase of pay and the new children's allowances for officers must obviously reduce or remove such hardship, and, as I informed the hon. Member for Nottingham South on the 14th February, the Department are bound in their periodic review of cases to take into consideration any alteration in an individual officer's financial circumstances. An undertaking has been given that Grants to non commissioned officers and men shall not be affected by the general increase of soldier's pay; but no statement to the effect suggested in the hon. and gallant Member's question has, so far as I am aware, been made in this House as regards the increase in officer's emoluments which are clearly on a different footing.

Mr. HOGGE

Are we to understand that what my right hon. Friend states is the official view that, in spite of the fact that non-commissioned officers' and men's Grants are not affected by recent increases, officers' Grants are affected, and, if so, why this difference?

Mr. FISHER

My hon. Friend is a member of the Committee which decides these questions, and he must know that officer's pay stands on an entirely different footing from that of non-commissioned officers and men.

Mr. HOGGE

In spite of the fact that I am a member of the Committee, is my right hon. Friend not our taskmaster, and does he not decide whether we are enabled to do these things or not; and will he say what is the official position?

Mr. FISHER

If my hon. Friend wants to know my position to the Committee, though I think he knows it already, he had better put down a question which will enable me to answer that question satisfactorily, and also as to my position as regards the Treasury.