HC Deb 14 February 1945 vol 408 cc205-6
25. Lieut.-Colonel Sir Ian Fraser

asked the Secretary of State for Air why, while A.T.S. or W.R.N.S. get seven days' leave, plus 48 hours' leave, and plus 14 days' unpaid leave when they are married, for their honeymoon, W.A.A.F. are not allowed the 14 days on the unemployed list.

Sir A. Sinclair

Subject to the requirements of the Service, members of the W.A.A.F. are normally granted 14 days' leave with pay, when they get married. For this, they use their ordinary leave, but if there is not enough ordinary leave due to them they are, at the discretion of their Commanding Officers, granted compassionate leave with pay to make up the total of 14 days. I understand that the arrangements in the A.T.S. and the W.R.N.S. are not precisely as stated in the Question, but while members of these Services may obtain more leave in the aggregate when they are married than members of the W.A.A.F., a large proportion of their leave is unpaid.

Sir I. Fraser

Will the right hon. Gentleman fill in this gap, which he has admitted, and see that these girls get the same time as the others?

Sir A. Sinclair

As I say, the facts about the others are not quite correctly stated in my hon. and gallant Friend's Question. The W.A.A.F. get a rather different scale, and I have no reason to believe that the arrangements which they have do not give them satisfaction.

Viscountess Astor

Since they feel they have a grievance, will my right hon. Friend look into that?

Sir A. Sinclair

Yes, but I have made careful inquiries and I am sure there is none. Actually, if we did try to assimilate our arrangements to those of the other two Services, I am afraid the result would be that the members of the W.A.A.F. would probably get more leave and less pay, and that members of the other Services would get more pay and less leave, and no one would be satisfied.

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