§ 6. Mr. Willisasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, if he is aware that the Department of Inspection of Naval Ordnance, when considering discharges on the grounds of redundancy on the basis of those with least Government service being discharged first, allow civilian service in other Admiralty departments to count, but do not allow ex-naval employees to count their naval service; and if he will take steps to remove this anomaly.
Mr. DugdaleI am not clear whether my hon. Friend is referring to industrial or non-industrial staff. Discharges among non-industrial staff are governed by the procedure agreed by a committee of the National Whitley Council. Under this procedure, time spent in the Forces during the recent war is included in the calculation of length of service for the purpose of determining the order of discharge 1133 on redundancy. Industrial staff discharges are regulated by an agreement made between the trade union and official sides of the Admiralty Industrial Council. This provides that in the case of workpeople in Admiralty employ who later joined the Forces, " length of service," as one of the factors determining the order of discharge, includes service with the Forces.
My hon. Friend will appreciate that in both fields, the rules followed by the Admiralty are those laid down in agreement with the representatives of the employees concerned. If, however, he would care to let me have details of any particular cases giving rise to his Question, I should be pleased to look into the matter further.