Vice-Admiral Taylorasked the First Lord of the Admiralty why Appendix V of the Halsey Report is not inserted in Cmd. 270 of 1919; and does the Admiralty base its case for the reduction of naval officers' pay on the introduction of marriage allowance in 1938 on this Appendix.
Mr. AlexanderThe hon. and gallant Member appears to be under a misapprehension regarding the Command Paper referred to. This paper contains a brief summary of the principal recommendations of the Naval Pay Committee, so far as these related to officers, and of the Committee on Half Pay, together with His Majesty's Government's decisions thereon. It does not contain the actual reports of the Committee. After this lapse of time it is difficult to conjecture why the recommendation of the Halsey Committee, that there should be no separate marriage allowance for Naval Officers, was not included in the Command Paper. It may, however, be surmised that its omission was due to the fact that the recommendation did not involve any change in existing regulations. As regards the second part of the Question, the Admiralty's case for the Marriage Allowance scheme is set out in the White Paper presented to Parliament in May, 1938. In determining its policy in regard to Marriage Allowance, due account was taken, not only of the Halsey Committee's recommendations, but also of the many subsequent discussions on the subject.