§ Mr. Parkerasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will have instructions issued for the names of ratings who qualify professionally for sub-lieutenant to be reported to the Admiralty and close attention given to the progress of the sub-lieutenant scheme by the Second Sea Lord and chief of naval personnel, in order that it shall not die out through want of Admiralty interest and attention?
§ Sir S. HoareI can assure the hon. Member that the progress of the scheme for the direct promotion of ratings to commissioned rank is constantly under review by myself and my advisers. I would explain that so soon as a rating is considered by his Commanding Officer to be potentially suitable for commissioned rank, even though he lacks the prescribed qualifications, the fact is reported to the Admiralty and thenceforward the Admiralty and future Captains under whom he may serve keep a careful watch on his training and development.
§ Mr. Parkerasked the First Lord of the Admiralty (1) whether he will state the reasons for the institution of a supplementary list of naval officers between the ages of 21 and 30 years from the mercantile marine, observing that the number of promotions awarded to the lower deck in recent years has been the lowest in the 25 years since commissioned rank was opened to ratings and that 69 ratings are qualified for sub-lieutenant;
(2) whether, instead of recruiting merchant service officers for the Navy, he will increase the number of commissions awarded to lower-deck candidates between 21 and 25 years under the new sub-lieutenant scheme and consider awarding commissions to warrant officers between 23 and 30 years under similar arrangements to the mate scheme of 1912?
§ Sir S. HoareThe institution of the supplementary list of Naval Officers was found necessary in order to assist in filling the immediate vacancies caused by the Naval re-armament programme, by a system of short service entry. It was not possible to rely on promotions from the lower deck for this purpose as there were not enough fully qualified and suitable candidates. Far from desiring to 55W restrict the number of commissions awarded to candidates from the lower deck, the Admiralty would gladly see a larger number of suitable candidates coming forward in order to allow of an increase in the number of direct promotions to commissioned rank from the lower deck. In this connection, the hon. Member is incorrect in stating that 69 ratings are qualified for sub-lieutenant. The figure which he has in mind represents the number who have passed a written examination in certain educational subjects and the number is now 78. In addition to this educational test, various professional qualifications are necessary and of course the general qualifications of the candidate have to be taken into full account.
With regard to the last part of the second question, I would point out that the new scheme for the promotion of ratings to commissioned rank is based on the desirability of ensuring that all officers, both ex-cadet and ex-lower deck, shall receive equal training. The officers who were promoted under the Mate Scheme of 1912 found themselves at a serious disadvantage owing to their not having received training equal to that of other officers, and for this reason I consider the re-institution of the scheme undesirable.