§ 12. Mr. O. LEWISasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will explain why the percentage of ex-service men employed in the Admiralty Department is lower than that of any other Government Department and, in particular, is much lower than in the War Office or the Air Ministry?
§ Mr. G. H. HALLI would remind the hon. Member that a high proportion of Admiralty staff belong to the shipbuilding, engineering and allied industries which, as he will be aware, were only allowed to volunteer for military service to a very limited extent, because they were urgently required for warship and merchant shipbuilding. Allowing for this special feature, the Admiralty percentages do not compare unfavourably with other Departments. As regards the War Office and Air Ministry, the figures on which the percentages are based (Command Paper 3740) do not included large numbers of technical staffs at outlying stations, &c., whereas the Admiralty figures include this type of staff. Moreover, the Air Ministry is a comparatively new Department, in which recruitment of permanent staff has taken place in post-War years to a larger extent than in other Departments.