HC Deb 26 April 1944 vol 399 c755
20. Mr. Kenneth Lindsay

asked the Secretary of State for Air what are the special and differentiating reasons which justify the R.A.F. granting commissions and uniforms to education officers and then employing them on a civilian basis and giving them a lower rate of pay than comparable officers, both in the R.A.F. and in the other Services; and wheher he will now make an inquiry into the matter.

Captain Balfour

Officers of the Royal Air Force Educational Services are appointed as civilian teachers, and paid as such. They are granted commissions in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, to facilitate their mobilisation should the need to mobilise them arise, but it is not considered justifiable to grant Service pay and allowances to those who, in fact, retain their civilian status. As regards the last part of the Question, my right hon. Friend has decided, with a view to surveying the problems that will arise during the transition from war to peace and in planning the education side of the peacetime Air Force, to appoint a Committee, regarding the membership of which he has been in consultation with my right hon. Friends the President of the Board of Education and the Secretary of State for Scotland, to inquire into the functions and organisation of the Service and into the duties and conditions of employment of education officers, and to recommend such changes, if any, as may be considered necessary or desirable.

Mr. Lindsay

Is my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that that answer will be received with much satisfaction?