§ 9. Mr. Fernyhoughasked the Secretary of State for Air if he will give a list showing the number of passes in Advanced levels of the General Certificate of Education obtained by each of the cadets admitted to the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell in the last intake.
§ Mr. AmeryOf this month's entry to Cranwell twenty-nine cadets had two or more "A" level passes, the normal standard, and seven had equivalent qualifications.
The remaining two cadets had each obtained one "A" level pass and narrowly failed to gain the second; in other respects they were highly suitable.
§ Mr. FernyhoughWhat are the special qualities which the Selection Board takes into account when it admits those with only one pass at Advanced level when generally the condition laid down is that cadets must have two passes at Advanced level?
§ Mr. AmeryThere are obviously borderline cases—when somebody is very close to passing his second "A" level, when there has been a special recommendation by the headmaster, or when someone for some reason is thought to be peculiarly well qualified for absorbing the Cranwell course.
§ Mr. FernyhoughIs it only recommendation from the headmaster or is it other influential people who are able to push cadets through, as against those from working-class homes who do not perhaps have influential people behind them to the same extent?
§ Mr. AmeryI can assure the hon. Member that there is no question of class discrimination or anything of that kind. He appreciates as well as I do that 1073 some boys, who have obviously got it in them to be good officers, perhaps even good commanders, may not have at that particular moment in their lives exactly the right academic qualifications. I should be very sorry if we limited ourselves absolutely rigidly by too strict an adherence to the standards we lay down. We stick to them fairly rigidly but it is important to have some loophole to bring in people who obviously have got the qualifications.