HL Deb 22 January 1946 vol 138 cc1023-6
1.—Cumulative figures 18th June, 1945, to 31st December, 1945.
Men. Women.
Service. Programme. Releases and Discharges. Excess (†)or Deficit(—) on programme. Programme. Releases and Discharges. Excess (†)or Deficit(—) on programme.
Royal Navy:
Recorded Effected but* not recorded. 199,000 176,522 25,000‡ †2,500‡ 19,610 25,615 2,000‡ †8,000‡
Army† 873,300 835,958 -37,342 80,000 81,322 †1,322
Royal Air Force 275,500 302,956 †27,456 62,670 62,429 -241
Total 1,347,800 1,340,400‡ -7,400 162,280 171,400‡ †9,100
* Releases from the Royal Navy are made from ships and establishments and not from dispersal centres and in some cases there is a considerable lag between the date of release and the date on which the report of the release reaches the Admiralty.
† Releases from the Army at the end of the year would have been substantially higher but for bad weather in the last week of the year which delayed the transport of men to this country for demobilisation.
† Approximate figures.
2.—Analysis of Releases and Discharges 18th June, 1945, to 31st December, 1945.
Service. Class A. Class B. Other Releases and Discharges. Total.
MEN.
Royal Navy 170,800‡ 5,600‡ 25,100‡ 201,500‡
Army 661,152 62,797 112,009 835,958
Royal Air Force 253,201 24,283 25,472 302,956
Total 1,085,100‡ 92,700‡ 162,600‡ 1,340,400‡
WOMEN.
Royal Navy 24,200‡ 50 3,323 27,600
Army 67,714 1,378 12,230 81,322
Royal Air Force 52,752 407 9,270 62,429
Total 144,700‡ 1,835 24,823 171,400‡
Total MEN AND WOMEN.
Royal Navy 195,000‡ 5,700‡ 28,400‡ 229,100‡
Army 728,866 64,175 124,239 917,280
Royal Air Force 305,953 24,690 34,742 365,385
Total 1,229,800‡ 94,500† ‡ 187,400‡ 1,511,800‡
†Individual specialist releases included in the total number 3,917 men and 63 women.
‡ Approximate figures.
3.—Releases and Discharges during December, 1945.
Service. Class A. Class B. Other Releases and Discharges. Total.
MEN.
Royal Navy 45,732 1,812 3,323 50,867
Army 208,322 15,662 21,006 244,990
Royal Air Force 54,412 7,058 2,794 64,264
Total 308,466 24,532 27,123 360,121
WOMEN.
Royal Navy 4,547 30 309 4,886
Army 7,291 758 1,517 9,566
Royal Air Force 6,960 110 615 7,685
Total 18,798 898 2,441 22,137
Total MEN AND WOMEN.
Royal Navy 50,279 1,842 3,632 55,753
Army 215,613 16,420 22,523 254,556
Royal Air Force 61,372 7,168 3,409 71,949
Total 327,264 25,430 29,564 382,258
LORD LLEWELLIN

My Lords, I beg to ask the second question which I have on the Paper. [The question was as follows:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in respect of how many persons in each of the following categories prior to the end of the year 1945 application has been made for release from the Fighting Services under the Class B scheme; how many of such applications have been approved for release, and in how many such cases have the persons concerned agreed to such release; namely, miners, building operatives, teachers and key persons in industrial undertakings.]

LORD NATHAN

My Lords, the numbers of coalminers, building operatives and teachers for whose release in Class B requests had been passed to the Services by the end of 1945, were 18,000, 60,000 and to,10,000 respectively. In the case of coalminers, approximately 5,900 of the men asked for had already been released, were serving under regular engagements, had become casualties or could not be traced. Of the remaining 12,100 about 3,800 had been reported as accepting release and 3,300 as refusing. In 5,000 cases replies had not been received by 31st December. The number reported as released in Class B was 3,471.

To secure the release of the 60,000 building operatives the Services made offers to about 166,000 men and approximately 62,000 acceptences and 56,600 refusals had been reported by 31st December. The number reported as released in Class B by that date was 54,399. As regards the schoolteachers, 12,200 offers had been made and about 6,350 acceptances and 1,950 refusals had been reported by 31st December. The number reported as released in Class B by that date was 6,180. In the case of key specialists, it is not practicable to give separate figures for those asked for by industrial undertakings, but in respect of a total of 13,517 applications, offers of release in Class B had been made in 11,088 cases up to 31st December. It is not possible to say how many had accepted or refused offers but the total number of individual specialists reported as released in Class B by the end of thy year was 3,980.

LORD LLEWELLIN

Will the noble Lord agree that these figures for these essential industries can hardly be considered satisfactory?