§ Mr. RONALD McNEILLasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the 1,100 men from the Land Valuation Department of the Inland Revenue who are serving in the Army enlisted without permission; whether the salaries of those who enlisted without permission are paid by the Department; and whether they will be restored to their former employment after the War.
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEI would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave this afternoon in answer to a question on the same subject by the hon. Member for Haggerston, and of which I enclose a copy.
Mr. CHANCELLORasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the staff
198Wof the Land Valuation Department has been reduced by dismissals and, if so, in how many cases; whether there is now any prohibition against enlistment by members of the staff; whether any who have enlisted without permission are receiving their balance of pay out of funds allocated to land valuation, with a promise of reemployment at the end of the War; and whether the remaining members of the staff who refrained from enlisting solely because refused permission will at the end of the War be placed on the same footing as to employments?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe strength of the temporary valuation staff is necessarily related to the stage that has been reached in the work for which that staff was engaged. The Board of Inland Revenue anticipate that the valuations for the purpose of the original valuation under Part I. of the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, will be made by the end of June next, subject to the considerations mentioned in my answer of the 4th ultimo to a question by my hon. Friend the Member for Hanley. It follows that the continued
maintenance, at anything like the present level, of the number of temporary valuers and clerks employed on a monthly engagement for the purpose of assisting in the original valuation will not be necessary, and during the year ended 31st March, 1916, upwards of 1,700 discharges fall to be made. The number of officers of the Valuation Office who could be permitted to join His Majesty's Forces has had to be fixed with due regard to the progress of the original valuation, the concluding stages of which would have been indefinitely postponed if unlimited depletion of the staff had been authorised. There is, of course, and can be, no restriction upon the liberty of any member of the temporary staff to anticipate the date when his services will no longer be needed by the Board of Inland Revenue and to enlist, if he so desires, in His Majesty's Forces; 199W and the Board would not, in such circumstances, require in individual cases the full month's notice which under his contract the valuer or clerk would strictly be bound to give. The number of gentlemen formerly in the Valuation Office who have left the service of the Board by joining without permission His Majesty's Forces is 171, of whom all except one were at the time employed on a monthly basis; these gentlemen fall outside the scope of the Treasury Regulations, which apply only in cases where permission has been given. The Board, however, under the authority of the Treasury Regulations have on their books the salaries of the members of the Valuation Office who have joined His Majesty's Forces with the concurrence of the Board, which carries with it the prospect of re-engagement.