§ 26. Mr. Rentonasked the Secretary of State for Air how many men in the Royal Air Force were misemployed at the latest date for which figures are available; and what percentage of the total number of men that figure represents.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Air (Mr. Crawley)The employment of airmen on duties other than those for which they are mustered is closely controlled by air officers commanding, and is restricted to temporary arrangements where full employment cannot otherwise 1945 be assured for the personnel concerned. Formations are not required to report statistics of such cases.
§ Mr. RentonIs the hon. Gentleman aware that a large number of men in the Royal Air Force are technically described as misemployed? Would he agree that men so described are wasting their time and skill, and will he say what is being done to reduce the number of men misemployed?
§ Mr. CrawleyAs the hon. Member has inferred "misemployment" is a technical word. It simply means that where we have shortages in certain trades we have to fill them with men who are in trades where there is a surplus. We do our best to keep this movement to the lowest possible figure and to use men in trades which are closely analogous to the ones in which they were employed previously.