§ 24. Mr. W. J. Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement to the House giving his reasons for refusing the claims of the police, the auxiliary police and the Defence Services for the institution of arbitration machinery for dealing with wages and other conditions of service.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonAs regards the regular police, the concession of formal arbitration facilities would involve a revision of the consultative machinery established under the Police Act, 1919, and I have informed the Joint Central Committee of the Police Federation that the Government are not prepared to undertake any such revision at the present time. So far as the police auxiliaries are concerned, as I stated in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for West Islington (Mr. Montague) on 18th January, it has been decided that their pay and general conditions of service shall be assimilated to those of the regular police, and it follows that the Government's decision on arbitration must apply equally to them. I consider that there is no occasion at this stage of the war to alter the existing arrangements as affecting the Civil Defence Services.
§ Mr. BrownMay I direct the right hon. Gentleman's attention to the Question, which asks whether he will give a statement of the reasons which led to the refusal of the claims of these services? I listened carefully to his reply and there is not a hint of a reason anywhere in it.
§ Mr. MorrisonI do not agree with the hon. Member. I think he will find that there is a reason in the answer that I have given.