§ 7. Mr. Callaghanasked the First Lord of the Admiralty what is the reason for the long delay in sending ratings on the Radio Mechanics' W/T course, and how Many are affected.
§ Mr. AlexanderDuring the war, arrangements were made for ratings of this class to receive their technical training at civilian technical colleges. Owing to the return of normal peacetime students to these colleges, training must now be carried out in Service establishments. A temporary shortage of naval and civilian instructors in these establishments caused some arrears in the last few months, but these have been reduced by nearly 50 per cent in the last few weeks, and with the appointment of some additional civilian instructors, I hope the arrears will be cleared in the course of the next two months. The number of ratings affected is, approximately, 150.