HC Deb 16 July 1952 vol 503 cc2152-3
56. Mr. Foot

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will review the regulations in the Royal dockyards whereby convictions imposed in the civil courts on dockyard workers are taken into account in relation both to dockyard employment, and entitlement to establishment.

Mr. Digby.

Good character is a requirement both for employment in Her Majesty's Dockyards and for the award of establishment. The regulations relating to employees convicted in the civil courts are applied with discretion and my right hon. Friend does not see any occasion to review them.

Mr. Foot

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that cases have arisen in the last few years—I have notified his Department of them—which mean that a person may be punished twice? A man may be convicted in the civil courts of a trivial offence and afterwards find that he is also being punished by the dockyard authorities.

Mr. Digby

I cannot agree with that. It would not be right that we should take no account of character before establishment.

Mr. Foot

Does not the hon. Gentleman think that the practice of the Royal Dockyards should be examined and reviewed in order to bring it into conformity with that prevailing in other industries?

Mr. Digby

This has been under constant review. As I have already stressed, the matter is approached with considerable discretion.