§ 48. Mr. RAPERasked the hon. Member for the Pollok Division of Glasgow, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, if he is aware that a surveyor in the Directorate of Works, a Mr. C. V. Cable, Lic. R.I.B.A., F.S.I., an ex-service man, married, and with a family dependent, has been recently discharged, and that a Mr. Wrennell, also a surveyor, but who has no degrees, is single, and a non-service man, has been retained, in spite of the protests raised by the ex-service representatives; whether the First Commissioner will take steps to have Mr. Cable reinstated in his place; and if the First Commissioner will, in view of the number of temporary technical non-service staff employed in the Office of Works, cause a substitution committee to he set up to deal with the technical staff on the lines recommended by the Lytton Committee, and which has already been done in the case of the clerical staff?
§ Sir J. GILMOUR (for the First Commissioner of Works)I will circulate the answer in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
The following is the answer:—
The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, but the circumstances were somewhat exceptional. The particular work upon which both gentlemen were engaged was, by the restriction of the housing programme carried out by the Department, suddenly and greatly curtailed. A careful review of the situa- 35 tion led to the conclusion that if Mr. Wrennell, who had been in charge of the work from the beginning, were retained, he would be able without further assistance to complete the work satisfactorily. Any other arrangement would, it was considered, have meant that the work would be performed less efficiently and at greater cost.
I should also explain that Mr. Wrennell attested voluntarily in 1916, but in view of his low medical category was granted exemption from military service so long as he was engaged on work of national importance, and was retained during the later stages of the War at the instance of the Department. Mr. Cable's military service extended from February, 1918, to December, 1919, during which time he was employed in the Lands Directorate of the War Office with the honorary rank of captain. The First Commissioner regrets that he is unable to reinstate Mr. Cable in Mr. Wrennell's place.
In spite of the fact that the percentage of ex-service men in the temporary technical staff of the Department is as high as 70, consideration has for some time been given to the desirability of setting up a substitution committee on the lines recommended in the Lytton Report, with a view to improving this figure, and I am able to inform the hon. Member that such a committee is already in process of formation. It is doubtful, however, whether it will be possible to reach so high a percentage as in the temporary clerical staff, where it is already 87 per cent., and will shortly be increased to 95 per cent.