HC Deb 21 March 1944 vol 398 cc643-4
1. Major C. S. Taylor

asked the Secretary of State for War whether, when officers are transferred compulsorily from the R.A.S.C., Royal Corps of Signals or R.A.O.C. to the infantry, they lose the corps pay to which they were entitled before transfer.

The Secretary of State for War (Sir James Grigg)

My hon. and gallant Friend will appreciate that every effort is made to avoid such transfers, if only because a trained officer in one of the corps mentioned has to be re-trained before he can be posted to an infantry unit. When it is necessary for military reasons to carry them out the officers concerned lose the corps pay which they previously earned on account of the employment of their specialist knowledge in the Corps. I regret this but any other course would clearly be unfair to other infantry officers.

Major Taylor

Does the right hon. Gentleman not think that it is a hardship on those officers who have made themselves efficient in one arm, to be transferred against their will to another arm, where the pay is not the same?

Sir J. Grigg

I certainly think that every possible course has its disadvantages and difficulties. I hope that the course that we have taken is the one which creates the least anomalies.

Lieut.-Colonel Dower

Is the Minister aware that when anti-aircraft officers were transferred from the Royal Engineers to the Royal Artillery they continued to draw their Engineers Corps pay?

Sir J. Grigg

Yes, Sir.