§ 24. Sir BERTRAM FALLEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the number of cook ratings on board His Majesty's Ship "Vernon" employed to cook breakfast for over 200 men; if he is aware that in May there were two cooks at the Royal Hospital, Haslar, for duty with the sick-berth staff; that a third cook had to be brought in after an interval, during which the naval cooks were overworked; that even with three cooks the work is excessive; that in No. 1 Galley, Royal Naval Barracks, out of a staff of 22, 14 are new entry Royal Marines, sick or undergoing outside training, and eight only are left to attempt the work; that in Galley No. 2 officers' cooks have been brought in to assist; and if he will do his best to remedy this state of affairs, which is not fair to the naval cooks' branch, and must mean the cooking of food and rewarming it for the messing of the ratings?
§ Mr. G. H. HALLHis Majesty's Ship "Vernon" is allowed a staff of 17 cook ratings, with one additional cook rating for every 60 ratings borne in excess of 1,000. The number required to cook breakfast probably depends on the amount of night leave granted, but I regret that there has been no time for inquiry on this point. As regards the second part of the question, I would 1945 refer the hon. Member to the information given in reply to his question of the 29th May. The reference to Royal Marines in connection with No. 1 Galley, Royal Naval Barracks, is not understood. The use of supernumerary officers' cooks to assist in Galley No. 2 should enable more leave to be given to the other cook ratings, and no objection is seen to the practice.
§ Sir B. FALLEThe hon. Gentleman says that a certain number is allowed; how many are working?
§ 25. Sir B. FALLEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that there are not a sufficient number of naval cook ratings at the Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth; that bread for the Royal Naval Barracks is being purchased from outside sources because of the insufficiency in numbers of naval cooks; and that the naval cooks' branch complain in the welfare requests Nos. 5 and 6 that the number of cooks is insufficient for the duties and that hardship is caused to the branch and to the ratings generally?
§ Mr. HALLThe reply to the first part of the question is in the negative. As regards the second part, the intention of the bakery at the Royal Naval Barracks is for training for duties afloat and the normal procedure is to purchase locally. The welfare requests referred to in the last part of the question are being considered.
§ Sir B. FALLEWhat is the answer to the last part of the question?