§ Mr. H. MORRISONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the wives and families of officers and men on the active list of the Army and Royal Air Force are entitled to receive treatment as out-patients at royal naval hospitals at home and abroad, whilst the wives and families of naval officers and men are not so entitled; and whether he will consider the desirability of equality of treatment of the wives and families of officers and men in these three Services?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, subject to the qualification that out-patient treatment at a naval hospital is allowed only to the wives and families of those Army and Royal Air Force personnel who are entitled to receive out-patient treatment from their own medical officers under existing Army or Air Ministry Regulations, and on condition that treatment by their own medical officers is not readily and conveniently available. With regard to the 1381W second part of the question, the Admiralty is satisfied that, owing to the varying conditions of the Services, a complete assimiliation of the conditions and Regulations governing medical treatment in the Army and Royal Air Force on the one hand and in the Royal Navy on the other hand would not be desirable.