HL Deb 03 February 1953 vol 180 cc131-2

2.42 p.m.

LORD JEFFREYS

My Lords, I beg to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why National Service officers are, on joining the Army, given seniority over those who, though in the same age group, have, after passing into the R.M.A., Sandhurst, completed the course at that establishment.]

EARL FORTESCUE

My Lords, this situation arises from the differing ages of these two types of officer on first commissioning. It is rectified on promotion to the rank of captain when the Sandhurst trained officer becomes senior to the National Service officer of the same age group. If all National Service officers were junior to all officers of the same age groups commissioned from Sandhurst, some National Service officers would have to serve three or four years as second lieutenants instead of two.

LORD JEFFREYS

My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his answer, may I ask whether it is not the case that the War Office are anxious to encourage candidates for commissions to take the examination and go through the Sandhurst course of eighteen months? Is my noble friend aware that the present system discourages candidates from taking the examination or from undergoing the course, and also discourages their parents from causing them to do so? Equally, would not the difficulty as to age be overcome if the second lieutenants from Sandhurst were granted an ante-date of, say, eighteen months, as was done with university candidates before the war?

EARL FORTESCUE

My Lords, I regret that I am not able to add anything to the answer which I have already given, but I will bring the remarks of the noble Lord to the notice of my right honourable friend.