§ 27. Mr. Simmondsasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in the event of a local emergency, the decision whether members of the Home Guard employed in controlled undertakings, where no controller has been appointed, shall be with drawn from their civilian occupations rests with the local military commander or with the head of the undertaking?
§ The Financial Secretary to the War Office (Mr. Richard Law)As the Home Guard will be required in cases of military emergency only, the responsibility for mustering them belongs to the military 909 authorities and not to the managements of particular undertakings. Instructions have, however, been issued that men employed on work of national importance should not be stopped from working except in cases of urgent operational necessity. I understand that military commanders normally consult the managements of the undertakings concerned as regards the use of their employés in emergency, and I do not anticipate that any difficulty will arise in practice.
§ Mr. SimmondsWill my hon. Friend see to it that there is a well defined routine whereby heads of controlled undertakings can make their appropriate representations to military commands?
§ Mr. GallacherIs the Minister aware that in certain of these controlled factories the management are treating the Home Guard as a private army?
§ 29. Mr. G. Straussasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will make inquiries into the use of the members of the Home Guard in a wage dispute at a factory, the name of which has been sent to him?