§ Sir B. FALLEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether it was the intention of the Board of Admiralty, when Article 107 of the King's Regulations and A dmiralty instructions was revised, that naval ratings who had hitherto had their ability assessed as superior were to automatically drop to moderate for efficiency on 31st December, 1926; whether he is aware that in some cases wholesale assessments as moderate have been made; and whether he will issue orders to amend this, and make it clear to all officers commanding ships and establishments that automatic drops in assessments were not intended?
§ Lieut. - Colonel HEADLAMThe answers to the first and third parts of the question are in the negative, and to the second part that the Admiralty have no statistics available. The basis of the efficiency assessments is quite different from that of the former ability assessments, and I have no reason to think either that the new system is not understood or that it is not being properly carried out.