§ Commander BELLAIRSasked the Secretary of State for War, in regard to the canteen fund now known as the 1975W United Services Fund, whether the Council of Management are accountable to the War Office what are the conditions under which grants are made to amalgamated bodies of ex-service men, in view of the ruling that co-operative enterprises are excluded from grants; and whether he will ask the Council to make their conditions widely known, so as to prevent discontent and disappointment as has occurred?
§ Sir A. WILLIAMSONThe Council of Management of the United Services Fund is not accountable to the War Office; the United Services Fund is unconnected with any Government Department, as announced in the Press on 26th July, 1919, when the organisation was first established. Information as to the Fund's activities can be obtained on application to its Headquarters, 29, Cromwell Road, S.W.7. I am informed that grants are not made by the Fund to ex-service men's organisations for their general purposes, but only for such specific purposes as are within the scope of the Fund, and are for the benefit of ex-serving officers and men and their dependants. Grants are not made to co-operative societies. The conditions under which grants are made are well known to the local committees set up by the United Services Fund all over the country, and a handbook explaining the Fund's policy is on sale, published by the Council of Management, price 1s. 3d.