Demobilisation

HC Deb 10 October 1945 vol 414 cc199-203

6. Mr. T. J. Brooks

asked the Under-secretary of State for Air why experienced graduate teachers serving in the meteorological section of the R.A.F. are being denied release from the services under Class B; whether priority is given under Class B for officers as well as other ranks who are teachers in civil life; and why it is necessary to post such personnel of importance to the teaching profession overseas now the war is over.

Mr. Strachey

Both officers and airmen of all branches of the R.A.F. are eligible for release in Class B as teachers. Some meteorological officers have already been so released. Unfortunately, however, it has been necessary to refuse release under Class B to some teachers who are meteorological officers. There are two reasons for this. First, an exceptionally high proportion—over 50 per cent.—of our wartime meteorological officers are teachers. Second, the very heavy transport commitments of the R.A.F. in bringing home men from overseas under the release and leave schemes creates a demand for meteorological officers, particularly overseas, which simply has to be satisfied in the interest of safety.

Mr. Brooks

Is my hon. Friend aware that a number of these have been concentrated and there are now more people for the jobs and less work to do, and that a number of them could surely be released under Class B?

Mr. Strachey

A number have been, and are being, released.

Mr. Brooks

My information is that no such releases have yet taken place.

Mr. Strachey

Oh, no. The hon. Member's information is wrong there. Releases of meteorological officers have taken place under Class B and are continuing to take place.

Mr. Brooks

Will my hon. Friend tell us how it is that these people in the meteorological office are not able to get any information about their release at all, and that nobody is able to give them any information?

Mr. Strachey

No, Sir, the release groups of meteorological officers are promulgated and if they read the promulgations they will see their group in the scheme.

10. Mr. Palmer

asked the Under-secretary of State for Air if he is aware of the dissatisfaction in the accounting branch of the R.A.F. because of the holding of men in this branch beyond their proper age and service groups; if he is satisfied that this policy is necessary; and whether he will take steps to redirect other grades of good general education to take over accountancy work and so enable accountant branch personnel to be released with their correct groups.

Mr. Strachey

Yes Sir, I am aware of dissatisfaction in the Accountant Branch—naturally no one likes to have their release delayed. But I am also satisfied that this delay is unavoidable, more especially in view of the recent speed-up in the general rate of release, which throws a still heavier burden on the Accounts Branch. Active steps are being taken to train suitable new men for the job and 1,450 have now been trained or have entered into training and a further 2,150 will be trained or training for this branch by the end of the year. As a result, the position is improving, but I must warn the House that the faster we go in general demobilisation, the more difficult it will be to achieve evenness as between different trades and ranks.

Mr. Palmer

Is my hon. Friend aware that this position does not seem to arise in other Services?

Mr. Strachey

No, Sir, the release by trade and rank is observed in the Royal Navy and, as my hon. Friend has seen in the Press, it has lately been introduced in the Army also.

Mr. Henderson Stewart

Is the hon. Gentleman aware of the cases which I have brought to his notice of men under this section who have served for six years in the Air Force, and also of their complaint that they themselves were obtained for special work for a matter of a few weeks?

Mr. Strachey

The training period is for four or five weeks and we are training the numbers I have mentioned, which should, by the end of the year, largely relieve the situation.

Mr. Callaghan

Can the Under-Secretary tell us when he now expects the release of this branch to be all square with the general release scheme?

Mr. Strachey

No, Sir; I cannot give a general assurance on that; it depends on the general releases which have been speeded up.

Mr. Lipson

Can the Under-Secretary tell us whether his promise that the posi- tion would be evened up by the end of the year no longer holds good?

Mr. Strachey

No, Sir; I cannot agree that I gave any such promise. I said that releases between trades and branches were being evened up; and there has in fact been appreciable progress in that respect during the Recess. I never gave any undertaking that the releases as between trades would be perfectly even by the end of the year.

16. Mr. Turton

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air why meteorological officers of group 15 and above are being excluded from the Class A demobilisation scheme; how many temporary meteorological officers recruited between 2nd September 1939 and 1942 have yet been released; and how many civilian meteorological officers have so far been released.

Mr. Strachey

No meteorological officer in the Royal Air Force is excluded from the Class A release scheme. Officers in group 15 will be released in October, and those in groups 16-20 in November and December. As to the second part of the question, 40 wartime meteorological officers and 10 civilian officers have so far been released.

Mr. Turton

Will the hon. Gentleman remove the misapprehension that exists in the Service that these civilian officers are getting out more easily than recruited Service officers—the men who have been transferred to the R.A.F. Reserve and are being kept in?

Mr. Strachey

I do not think the figures bear out the hon. Member's statement, as 40 commissioned meteorological officers have been released and only 10 civilians.

Mr. Turton

Can the Minister say what proportion of civilian officers have been released and what proportion of Service men?

Mr. Strachey

I cannot give that without notice.

18. Mr. Garry Allighan

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware that the release of Intelligence officers of the R.A.F. is up to four months behind their group dates; and whether he is satisfied that such postponement of release is operationally vital.

Mr. Strachey

The difficulty with Intelligence officers is that they tend to be older men, and so to be particularly numerous in the early release groups. Therefore this Section would have been denuded if they had been released in step with, for instance, aircrew. In October they were four groups behind the majority of officer trades while in November and December they are two groups behind. In any case there is nothing like a four months' delay.

Major Wyatt

Is my hon. Friend aware that Intelligence officers in the South East Asia Air Force who had been delayed in their demobilisation are not being used for Intelligence duties but for documentation work at release embarkation depots?

Mr. Strachey

Perhaps the hon. Member will give me specific instances of misemployment of that kind, but a certain amount of misemployment is inevitable at the moment, and is even desirable in order to speed up the general releases.