§ 61. Viscount WOLMERasked the Prime Minister whether he will give instructions that those men who made personal application for permission to join the Army during the War, but who were refused permission by the Government on the ground that their services were elsewhere required, shall, for all purposes of discharge now from Government establishments, be reckoned as being in the same category as ex-service men?
Mr. YOUNGLord Lytton's Committee, which last year gave careful consideration to the question of the employment of ex-service men in the Civil Service, did not recommend that temporary employees who had applied for, but were refused, permission to join His Majesty's forces during the War should, in considering discharges from Government Departments, be regarded as being in the same category as ex-service personnel. I see no reason to modify the decision which has been reached on this matter.
§ Viscount WOLMERIs my hon. Friend aware that there is a number of men who made repeated application for permission to enlist in the Army during the War; that that permission was refused by the Government, and that some of them are now being discharged by the same Government on the ground that they are not ex-service men?
Mr. YOUNGI should say that the real answer to the Noble Lord is that the preference which is given to ex-service men is not given primarily as a reward but as an approach to compensation for an interrupted career. The career of the men who stayed behind was not interrupted in the same way.