§ 41. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Secretary of State for Air whether his attention has been drawn to paragraph 3 of Form 2168, relating to attestation; and whether it is the intention of his Department to apply this condition to men attested and then deferred for air-crew service.
§ Mr. de FreitasThe answer to both parts of the Question is "Yes, Sir." I should, however, add that the White Paper issued in September, 1944, states that only whole time service on full pay counts for release.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterWill not the Under-Secretary agree that the White Paper in that respect is entirely inconsistent with paragraph 3 of the form to which I invited his attention, and which states definitely:
Your term of service shall begin to reckon from the date of attestation.
§ Mr. de FreitasIt was quite clear to the men at the time because they were given Form 2150 as well as 2168, and that pointed out that they were not embodied. They were merely placed in a pool of potential air crew and were protected from call-up. They were clearly not embodied; in fact, they stayed at home and kept on with their civilian jobs.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterCan the Parliamentary Secretary further state whether in addition to these two forms a third form was handed to these men telling them which of the other two was applicable?
§ Mr. de FreitasSo far as I know there was no third form, but, read together, the other two were quite plain and the actual wording does not refer to full-time paid service.