§ 22. General Sir George Jeffreysasked the Secretary of State for War the exact position regarding the undecided request of the British Red Cross Society that the Geneva brassard should be issued to its members in this war; and whether he can expedite a decision in view of the fact that its trained workers would not, under present arrangements, be entitled, in case of enemy invasion, to the protection of the Red Cross emblem?
§ Mr. LawThe Geneva Convention, 1929, provides that, in order to claim the protection afforded by the Convention to military medical services, personnel of voluntary societies such as the British Red Cross Society, must be subject to 437 military law. The only members of the British Red Cross Society therefore who are entitled to wear the Geneva Cross armlet are those who are incorporated with military medical units as determined by the Commander-in-Chief. Instructions were issued on this subject in March, 1940, and the position was subsequently made plain in correspondence with the British Red Cross Society in April of this year. I have been unable to trace any further communication from the British Red Cross Society since that date, and, so far as I am aware, no request from the Society is at present awaiting decision.
§ Sir G. JeffreysIs my hon. Friend aware that the only medical services in the Home Guard are, in many cases, those provided by the British Red Cross Society?