§ 84. Mr. RAPERasked the Under-Secretary of State to the Air Ministry how much has been written off as a charge against the public for stores deficiencies of squadrons stationed in Great Britain since the War began; and what percentage of this amount has been recovered from the officers responsible for such deficiencies?
§ Mr. PRATT (Lord of the Treasury)These squadrons served with the Navy or Army until April, 1918, when they were transferred to the Air Force, and the value of the stores written off could only be ascertained by much labour on the part of the local and headquarter staffs of the three forces. The results of the inquiry would be misleading, since the write-off did not always represent actual deficiencies, but sometimes represented discrepancies due to defective accounting during war pressure. The money recovered from officers responsible bears no direct ratio to the value of the stores deficient.