§ 117. Sir C. Edwardsasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air the number of trades in the R.A.F. which are kept back two or three groups behind the age and service demobilisation scheme; why men in the clerical and electrical departments are still kept further behind than the rest of the trades; and will he endeavour to bring all these trades into line with the general body of the Service as laid down in the forms on demobilisation which have been posted up for their information.
§ Mr. Strachey:In April 11 Royal Air Force trades are two groups behind the general level of release, and one trade is three groups behind. In our forecast for May and June we have told the Service that three trades will probably be two groups behind, and five trades will have a delay of three groups. The only airmen who will be more than three groups behind are those employed on accounting duties, who will have a delay of five groups for the reasons given in my reply on 13th March to the hon. and gallant Members for Lewes (Major Beamish) and Aston (Major Wyatt). We are doing all we can to level out the release rate and we have constantly explained in our Demobforms the reasons for any unevenness (which was foreshadowed in the White Paper) as well as the steps we are taking to correct it. Despite the accelerations of release up to date, which of course accentuate these problems, I am glad to say that delays will affect something less than 2 per cent. of the Royal Air Force in May and June.