§ 89. Mr. Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for War how many men have not been fitted out with a suit at the time of demobilisation; and how long they have to wait before one is supplied.
§ Mr. LawsonThe total number of men of all three Services who have not been fitted out with a suit on the day of their release is 99,500. In approximately 76,000 of these cases a suit has since been despatched. Hitherto, a made-to-measure suit has taken up to eight weeks to provide, a period which I hope will shortly be reduced to six weeks. Standard sizes, temporarily out of stock, have taken some six weeks to supply; this should shortly be reduced to three weeks.
§ 118. Brigadier Lowasked the Secretary of Slate for War whether, in cases where the demobilisation centre is unable to provide a man with a suit of clothing because of his size, he will issue a clothing allow- 324W ance to the man to enable him to buy his suit in the civilian market, instead of ordering him to wait until a suit is provided through Army channels.
§ 119. Mr. Irvingasked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that Servicemen demobilised in January have not been given an overcoat; and will he require Central Ordnance Depot to speed up special orders.
§ Mr. LawsonI would refer the hon. Members to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Mr. Driberg) on 12th March. In the specific case brought to my attention by the hon. and gallant Memberfor North Blackpool (Brigadier Low) a suit was despatched to the man on 14th March.