HC Deb 24 November 1953 vol 521 c170
10. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Defence how many cases during the last 12 months have been reported to him in which officers in the Armed Forces have administered corporal punishment to the children of other ranks.

Mr. Birch

None, Sir.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

Has the Parliamentary Secretary not been in touch with the Air Ministry about a recent case of a Royal Air Force station near Doncaster, where two sons of Service personnel were given a very good hiding by a corporal in the R.A.F. on the instructions of the station commander? Will the hon. Gentleman make it quite clear that action of this kind, in competition with magistrates and the police, is not officially authorised by the Service Departments?

Mr. Birch

It is certainly not officially authorised.