§ 24. Mr. de Freitasasked the Minister of Defence whether he will cause the Service Departments to examine their arrangements for trooping Service families to see whether the air trooping can be concentrated into certain months so that the Air Ministry may consider some scheme by which modern passenger aircraft can be used by them for trooping in the months in which the demand for passenger space on ordinary commercial routes is low, and these modern aircraft can be used by the nationalised air corporations, or by private operators, for ordinary passenger services in the months in which the demand for such space is high.
§ Sir W. MoncktonAs my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Air explained in reply to the hon. Member on 30th May, the trooping programme is a continuous one throughout the year. and it would be neither desirable nor practicable to concentrate the air trooping of Service families into certain months.
§ Mr. de FreitasAs that will not be done, and no such investigation will be made, what will the Minister of Defence do so to arrange trooping that Service families are carried in the modern aircraft that they deserve? The Air Ministry's present policy is such that that will not happen.
§ Sir W. MoncktonI was dealing with the question whether we could make any contribution to this question by a spreadover, and I am satisfied that that would not be a practicable way of dealing with the problem. The House should be aware that invitations to tender for air trooping contracts lay down standards of safety, comfort, etc.. and I have no reason to think that they are not being complied with.