§ 2.36 p.m.
§ LORD CHORLEYMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether under present arrangements National Servicemen who after completing their full-time service, develop conscientious objections to military service are, when called up for part-time service, sentenced to imprisonment before their objections can be considered by the Advisory Tribunal.]
§ THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE (EARL ALEXANDER OF TUNIS)My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Chorley, will be aware from recent correspondence which we have had together that the position is, broadly speaking, as stated in his Question; that is to say, Parliament has made no provision for access to a tribunal by National Servicemen who, after completing their full-time service, claim to have developed conscientious objections to military service. By an administrative arrangement, however, men in this position are allowed to apply to the Appellate Tribunal established by the National Service Acts, but only when they are undergoing court martial sentence with not less than three months' imprisonment imposed for an offence believed to arise out of their conscientious objections. This condition corresponds to the provisions made in Section 21 of the National Service Act, 1948, for men who claim a conscientious objection before call-up, but whose plea has been rejected by a tribunal. As the noble Lord will also be aware, the Service Ministers and I have carefully considered this problem, and we have reached the conclusion, which has been publicly announced in reply to a Question in another place, that there are good grounds for maintaining the present arrangements.
§ LORD CHORLEYWhile thanking the noble and gallant Earl for his reply, I should like to remind him of the correspondence to which he has just referred relating to the case of Brian Jupp. This young man is a London graduate of ability, on whose university training substantial sums have been spent, and who, as the noble and gallant Earl knows, was kept in prison for a period of not less than ten weeks, during which period the community was deprived of the value of his services, at a difficult time, when everybody ought to be pulling his weight. Does not the noble and gallant Earl think 729 that the procedure which he has just outlined to the House is, in these circumstances, unjust and contrary to the national interest?
§ EARL ALEXANDER OF TUNISMy Lords, I do not think the procedure is unjust, but I feel it is regrettable that such a long time has elapsed before the young man referred to has been able to appeal. However, I am sure the noble Lord will be pleased to k now that in future when a tribunal upholds a man's plea the reviewing authority will he instructed to remit the balance of the sentence, and the appellant will be discharged forthwith.