§ Mr. GLANVILLEasked the Food Controller if he will order an inquiry in the cases of the 224 married women, less the approximate one-fourth, with a view to ascertain how many of the three-fourths of the 224 married or unwidowed women in his head offices have husbands in Government employ; and will he, in the interest of the discharged soldiers, engage men at once and dismiss these married women?
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§ Mr. McCURDYThe Food Controller does not consider that any useful purpose would be served by the inquiry which the hon. Member suggests. The substitution of discharged soldiers for existing officers of the Ministry of Food is proceeding on the lines laid down for Government Departments generally by the Treasury Committee, and the information about the private circumstances of the staff which is necessary for the purposes of the scheme is already in the possession of the Department. I see no reason for introducing the discrimination, not recommended by the Committee, between married women whose husbands are and are not in Government employment.