HC Deb 01 August 1962 vol 664 cc560-2
11. Mr. Mulley

asked the Minister of Defence if he will arrange for British forces stationed in Berlin to receive the same overseas allowance as is paid to our forces stationed in the German Federal Republic.

Mr. Thorneycroft

No, Sir. Local overseas allowance is intended to compensate for essential extra expenditure incurred in living overseas as compared with living in the United Kingdom. The cost of living in Berlin is no higher than in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Mulley

Will the Government give up this fiction that the troops in Berlin are living in exactly the same conditions as if they wore living in barracks in this country? Does not the right hon. Gentleman know that there is strong feeling among the troops there, particularly the Air Force, that when they are transferred from another part of Germany to Berlin their costs are the same and their responsibilities are greater yet Her Majesty's Government do not make any allowance for the difference?

Mr. Thorneycroft

I think that there are certain differences in these matters. For example, in Berlin they receive family rations and domestic services at concessional rates which they do not get in the rest of Germany.

12. Mr. Mulley

asked the Minister of Defence why Her Majesty's Government pays their forces in Berlin in an artificial currency: and if he will withdraw British Armed Forces vouchers.

Mr. Thorneycroft

The British Armed Forces Special Vouchers with which troops in Berlin are paid are not an artificial currency: they are fully negotiable within the limits defined on them. The arrangement has proved to be generally advantageous.

Mr. Mulley

Is the Minister aware that the other two Western occupying Powers—France and the United States— have abandoned the idea of this special currency for their troops and pay them in their own currencies? Is he aware that a great number of troops feel that there is some "fiddle" in this arrangement? If there are reasons why the right hon. Gentleman should continue the cost of providing these special vouchers, will he give the House a full and proper explanation of why the British Government feel that this expenditure is necessary?

Mr. Thorneycroft

My information is that it is generally regarded as fair and acceptable, but if the hon. Member for Sheffield, Park (Mr. Mulley) would like to have a word with me about it some time I should be only too pleased.

Mr. Gordon Walker

Can the right hon. Gentleman say if what the men call this "Mickey Mouse" currency in fact helps us? Is it an economy or would it cost more, or would it make no difference at all from our point of view, to maintain a special currency which we do not maintain in the rest of Germany?

Mr. Thorneycroft

It is not an unknown arrangement to pay troops who are in an operational or near-operational rô1e with currency of this type. If the right hon. Member for Smethwick (Mr. Gordon Walker) has any difficulty in understanding this, I will willingly discuss the matter with him.