HC Deb 22 March 1977 vol 928 cc1062-3
8. Miss Fookes

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will reaffirm the obligation of Her Majesty's Government to pay gratuities on retirement to those who enlisted on short-service commissions.

21. Mr. Lipton

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has now completed his review of the tax-free gratuities promised to certain officers in the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force when they signed on.

Dr. Gilbert

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be making a full statement in the course of the defence debate later this afternoon.

Miss Fookes

As the purpose of asking a Question is to get an answer, why cannot I have an answer now? Surely this is most important.

Dr. Gilbert

As will become apparent from my right hon. Friend's remarks later today, this is an extremely complex matter. A statement now would take far longer than hon. Members would want to see taken out of Question Time. I can assure the hon. Lady that at no time was there any question of Ministers wishing to welsh on their obligations under the scheme.

Mr. Lipton

What is the reason for this side-stepping and duck-shoving? Do we have to sit and listen to all the twaddle in the speech that is to be made by the Secretary of State before we can get an answer to a simple question? All that the Minister has to say is "Yes" or "No". He can cut out all the legalistic quibble. I, for one, do not want to listen to the Secretary of State for Defence making his speech.

Dr. Gilbert

I should have thought that my hon. Friend would have deduced by now that the answer is "Yes" and was always intended to be "Yes". It always was "Yes". Many ill-informed and in some cases malicious articles that appeared in the Press had no basis of fact whatever.

Sir Ian Gilmour

There was no need for Question Time to be taken up on this matter. I wrote to the Secretary of State nearly three weeks ago saying how dishonourable the Government's apparent proposals were. Why have not I had an answer before now?

Dr. Gilbert

If the right hon. Gentleman insists on using that sort of language without any knowledge of the facts, it is not surprising that he has to wait for an answer. As he will discover from my right hon. Friend's speech later today, many of the complications are produced by the coincidence of the commitment to pay gratuities and the legislation introduced by his own Government with respect to Armed Forces pensions. If he will be a little patient, I hope that he will be able, with the assistance of my right hon. Friend, to unravel the complexities.