HC Deb 26 February 1957 vol 565 cc1049-50
Sir P. Spens

I beg to move, in page 3, line 39, at the end to add: (4) A person is not disqualified under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section one of this Act by reason of his being a member of the Royal Observer Corps unless he is employed as such for the whole of his time. The Royal Observer Corps is a civilian organisation, under the control of the Secretary of State for Air, and many of its members are civilians. There is a whole-time paid nucleus of civil servants who will be disqualified as such, but the vast majority of the members of the Corps are part-time volunteers and it would be anomalous to disqualify them when part-time members of other voluntary Services are not disqualified. This point was not brought before the Select Committee. If it had been, I feel certain that we should have inserted words such as those in the Amendment.

3.45 p.m.

Mr. George Wigg (Dudley)

I wonder whether the Attorney-General will be good enough to tell the Committee whether the expression "member" of the Royal Observer Corps has a technical meaning, or is used in the ordinary sense. One would not want to debar a civilian who happened to be working in a purely civilian capacity with the Royal Observer Corps. I should have thought that such a person would not be within the scope of the Amendment, always provided that "member" has a technical meaning in the sense that one uses the terms "soldier" or "airman".

The Attorney-General

In the Royal Observer Corps there is a small nucleus of whole-time paid officers who are civil servants and would be disqualified by Clause 1 (1, b), but the vast majority of members are part-time volunteers and it would be anomalous to disqualify them, when part-time members of other voluntary Services are not disqualified by the Bill. The Amendment makes it quite clear that members of the Royal Observer Corps, unless employed as such for the whole of their time, that is to say, unless they come within the category of civil servants, are not disqualified.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.