§ 12. Mr. Gallacherasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the provisions of the Military Training and Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Consequential Provisions) (Insurance) Order, 1939, about insurance policy holders absent on National Service, are being interpreted by some insurance companies as applying only to persons whose service with the Forces commenced prior to 1st September, 1939; and whether he will take steps to remove the anomaly whereby preferential treatment is given to persons engaged on National Service according to the date of the commencement of that service?
§ Mr. StanleyThe provisions of the Order in question applied only to persons who were called up, under the Military Training Act, 1939, or the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces Act, 1939, before mobilisation, and the protection afforded by the Order was limited to the actual period of service before mobilisation, and an equal period thereafter, followed by a period of grace equal to half of the total of those two periods. With a few possible exceptions, these periods have now expired and the persons in question are now in this respect in exactly the same position as those who came up on and after mobilisation, and members of the general public, many of whose liabilities of this kind are affected by the war no less than those of members of the Armed Forces. Liability in respect of insurance premiums is one of the things which can be taken 14 into account by the War Service Grants Advisory Committee in considering applications for special allowances from members of the Forces who, owing to their service, find themselves unable to meet their financial obligations from their resources available while serving.