§ 44. Sir Ian Fraserasked the Secretary of State for War what is the delay in an average case between application by a soldier for compassionate leave for urgent family reasons and the granting of such leave; and if he is satisfied with the present arrangements.
§ Mr. ShinwellIn urgent compassionate cases there is no delay between the time of the application and the granting of leave. The current instruction to commanding officers states:
In all urgent cases, leave should be granted immediately, and the bona fides of the application will be checked as soon as possible afterwards.In the more distant overseas theatres, where it is considered that a sea passage will create undue delay in any particular case, air passage may be authorised. There is no reason to believe that the present arrangements are not working satisfactorily.
§ Sir I. FraserIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is delay, and that in some cases it results in the soldier 1011 arriving home after his wife, father, or mother has died? Will he see whether he cannot avoid this, as it not only causes distress to the individuals, but is very bad for the morale of the Army as a whole?
§ Mr. ShinwellCommanding officers are not responsible for the delays, but are asked to carry out the instructions, which are quite definite in character. The delays may occur because of transport difficulties.
§ Colonel J. R. H. HutchisonAre commanding officers given any definition of what urgent family reasons are, or are they left to interpret that themselves?
§ Mr. ShinwellCommanding officers are usually intelligent enough to interpret what that means.