Mr. CHANCELLORasked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he will state how many members of the Royal Naval Air Service Anti-Aircraft Corps have been taken from their duties and are now unemployed in that department; and when it is intended to employ them on other duties and of what kind?
§ Mr. TENNANTThe War Office have employed the whole of the naval personnel. They work under their own officers, and if any individuals are temporarily unemployed this has been done under the orders of the naval officer in charge.
Mr. CHANCELLORasked whether the men employed by the War Office in place of those who for many months have been trained to work the anti-aircraft guns for the defence of London are specially qualified by training, or have been selected for proficiency in high-angle firing?
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§ Mr. TENNANTThe military personnel added to the anti-aircraft defences are not in place of, but in addition to the former naval personnel. Some redistribution has taken place, the naval personnel having been replaced at certain points by soldiers and transferred to other points, as I informed the House in an answer I gave to the hon. Member for Devonport on the 17th February. The military personnel, referred to in the latter part of the question, are specially qualified by training.