HC Deb 04 December 1919 vol 122 cc619-20W
Captain BOWYER

asked the Secretary of State for War whether it is intended to establish residential general headquarters colleges and residential or other additional schools for the forces at home and in India on similar general lines to those established by the British Army of the Rhine; if so, when it is anticipated that any such colleges or schools will be ready for use; whether the industrial and technical training it is intended to give in the Army will conform to the industrial practices and conditions of the country as at present established between the employers and the unions; and, if so, what steps are being taken to ensure this?

Mr. CHURCHILL

As I stated in reply to a question by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for North Kensington on the 18th November last, the greater part of the educational instruction in the Army must necessarily be given in units; and it is not proposed to establish central schools for the Regular Army on the lines found desirable in the British Army of the Rhine, except for the purpose of training instructors. The conditions which prevailed on the Rhine were exceptional, and were successfully met by measures specially designed to meet those conditions, and though the experience gained has been of great value it will not be applicable in its entirety to the conditions governing the Regular Army in the future. As regards the latter part of my hon. and gallant Friend's question, the industrial and technical training given in the Army will be carried out in the future, as it has been in the Armies of Occupation, in conformity with the requirements of the Ministry of Labour, and subject to such general arrangements as are made from time to time by that Ministry with employers and the unions.