§ 2. Mr. Bellengerasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will appoint special representatives of regimental paymasters to be attached to each battalion, battery or similar unit, in order to ensure as far as possible the correct assessment of soldiers pay and allowances and a more efficient control of soldiers pay accounts?
§ Captain MargessonIf my hon. Friend's suggestion is that soldiers pay accounts should in effect be kept by Royal Army Pay Corps personnel in the units, this would involve a complete departure from the present pay organisation: it would involve a heavy increase of staff, and it would introduce a system which would inevitably break down under war conditions. If the suggestion is that Royal Army Pay Corps personnel should be attached to units for liaison purposes, this again would call for a heavy addition of trained staff which is not available. But the need for improving in units the knowledge of pay matters is fully appreciated, and, with this end in view, arrangements have recently been made to provide command schools of instruction for regimental officers and non-commissioned officers. Representatives from units attending these schools are not only instructed in pay duties but are encouraged to raise both general and individual problems on behalf of their units. In addition, instructional staff are constantly visiting units and giving lectures and advice on all pay matters.
§ Mr. BellengerIs my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that, whatever he 4 has to say about my suggestion, the present system is not satisfactory from the soldier's point of view; and if, therefore, he could not accept this suggestion, would it not be possible to attach a representative of the paymaster to formations like brigades?
Captain DuncanIs my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that the present system in the Army is that the soldier is responsible for knowing the correctness of his own pay, and in nine cases out of 10 he does not, and will he shift that responsibility for correctness of pay to the regimental paymaster?
§ Captain MargessonI will consider that point. In reply to my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (Mr. Bellenger), I am aware that there have been complaints, and I am anxious to remove these troubles. That is the reason for the course of action I have outlined to the House.
§ 3. Mr. Bellengerasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the large number of cases of men and their dependants being put under compulsory stoppages of pay and allowances by regimental paymasters, he will issue instructions that in no case shall overpaid money be stopped from wives or dependants allowances; and, in the case of a soldier, no stoppage shall exceed 10 per cent. of the man's pay for the purpose of recovering sums overpaid?
§ Captain MargessonExisting instructions provide that current payments of family or dependants allowance should not be reduced in respect of the recovery of an overissue by more than 12½per cent. of the total weekly payment, and that the reduction should not be continued for more than eight weeks, unless the overissue was due to misrepresentation on the part of the payee. As regards recovery of overissues of a soldier's pay, instructions have recently been issued that, where the overissues were accepted in good faith, the rate of recovery should not exceed a sum that would leave the soldier with less than one shilling a day. In both cases the rate of recovery may be reduced where it appears that the maximum rate would entail hardship to the soldier or dependant, and part or the whole of the amount overissued may be written off, if the circumstances warrant it.
§ Mr. BellengerMay I ask my right hon. and gallant Friend whether the 1s. is after the soldier has made his allotment, and, further, whether he is aware that the instructions which he has just outlined are not being followed by the regimental paymasters?
§ Captain MargessonIf my hon. Friend can give me details of such a case, I will look into it at once and do my best to put it right. The 1s. a day is left to the soldier after the allotment has been made.
§ 12. Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for War what are the general regulations respecting allowances to a wife and dependants when the soldier has leave on account of serious family illness or when he absents himself for this reason; whether each case is decided by the paymaster; and whether, in view of the hardship to the family frequently arising from deductions during or subsequent to this leave or absence, he will consider modifying the practice so that financial hardship to the family is avoided?
§ Captain MargessonThe grant of leave on compassionate grounds does not affect in any way the issue of allowances to a soldier's wife or dependants. If a soldier absents himself without leave, he ceases to be entitled to any emoluments from Army funds, but in order to avoid hardship, payments which were being made to his dependants continue for seven days. I do not think that the Army authorities can reasonably be expected to relieve the soldier of responsibility for his family beyond this period.
§ Mr. SorensenDoes not the right hon. and gallant Gentleman realise that some authority has still to maintain the wife and children? Under these circumstances cannot he devise some kind of punishment to the soldier which does not inflict unnecessary hardship on the dependants?
§ Captain MargessonWe do not wish to inflict any hardship on dependants, but, equally, a soldier should not absent himself.
§ Mr. SorensenOne quite understands that, but the point is not of preventing him from absenting himself or punishing him for absenting himself, but of the condition of his wife and children, who are not responsible for his absenting himself.