§ Mr. Ness Edwardsasked the First Lord of the Admiralty why Ordinary Seaman William Henry Evans, of 57, Long Row, Nelson, Glamorganshire, who was dismissed His Majesty's service on 18th September, 1942, has not yet received his discharge papers which have been applied for and without which he cannot receive a national registration identity card or ration cards from the Ministry of Food; and whether he will take steps to end this state of things?
Mr. AlexanderI understand that Evans was dismissed the service in September, 1942, to undergo a period of twelve months' imprisonment from which he was released in May, 1943. The service certificate in this case was unfortunately mislaid but a temporary certificate of discharge from service was sent to the governor of the prison on 27th April for issue to Evans on his discharge from prison. This temporary certificate stated that it was issued to enable Evans to obtain his civilian identity card and ration documents and it is not understood why there should have been any difficulty in the matter, but following a further inquiry on Evans' behalf in September, 1943, a certified copy of his service certificate was issued to him on the 29th October. Steps are being taken to ensure that discharged naval personnel released from prison shall be able to obtain their national service identity cards and ration documents without any delay.