§ 37. Mr. Hollisasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware that, in spite of A.M.O. A.2/46, reapplication for permanent commissions by short-service commission officers, whose applications had been rejected prior to that Air Ministry Order, are being refused by his Department; and whether he will make a statement on the policy in this matter.
§ Mr. StracheyI realise that I did not make this position clear in the Air Estimates Debate, because I failed to distinguish between officers who had had their applications for permanent commissions refused and those whose applications had simply been acknowledged without any decision being given. It was this latter category who were asked to reapply. I am afraid there would be no point in asking the much smaller number of officers whose applications had been definitely refused to send them in again. For, in their cases, there is some definite reason why their applications cannot be accepted.
§ Mr. HollisIn view of the fact that what the Under-Secretary thought the Government policy to be was so very much more intelligent than what the Government policy is, would it not be a good plan to take advantage of this slip at headquarters in order to inaugurate the better policy?
§ Mr. StracheyNo, Sir. I think in those cases where we have definitely had to refuse, there would be no benefit and, in fact, there would be some hardship to the applicant in asking him to apply again. I repeat that the great majority of cases could not be dealt with because we had not at that time the number of permanent commissions to offer, and we have asked all these officers to re-apply.