§ Viscount EDNAMasked the Secretary of State for War how many non-service men, and how many women, are employed in the Imperial War Graves Commission Department in a temporary capacity; and what steps he is taking to secure that the posts held by such personnel shall be filled by ex-service men who have been discharged from Government Departments, and are now awaiting re-allocation?
§ Sir L. WORTHINGTON-EVANSI am informed that in the United Kingdom the Commission employs
non-ex-service men, of whom one is under notice (out of a total of 398 men) and
145 women, of whom seven are under notice.
The non-ex-service men are retained as pivotal owing to special knowledge. Of the women, 95 are engaged on work specially appropriate to women, and are ordinarily non-substitutable by ex-service men; 19 are retained by virtue of special knowledge; 28 are cases of hardship—war widows, etc.; three are ex-service. A Departmental Substitution Committee, constituted in accordance with the recommendations of the Lytton Committee, has examined every case of retention; such cases, moreover, pass periodically under review. Abroad the Commission employs:
1238W42 non-ex-service men (out of a total of 1,996 men) and
21 women.
Among the 42 men there are 31 gardeners who were too young, too old, or rejected for service during the War, and have been employed owing to difficulty in obtaining fully qualified ex-service gardeners. The remainder of the non-ex-service men are employed owing to technical qualifications and include several eminent architects, such as Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Reginald Blomfield, Sir Robert Lorimer, Sir John Burnet, Mr. Herbert Baker, and others, who obviously could not be replaced by ex-service men. The 21 women are all employed on work specially appropriate to women; 11 of them are ex-service. Every vacancy, with the exception of certain positions requiring special qualifications, is filled by application to the Joint Substitution Board. My Noble Friend may be assured that, other things being equal, preference will be given, whenever vacancies arise, to men such as those referred to in the last part of the question.