Sir H. YOUNGasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Admiralty still employs a smaller percentage of disabled ex-service men and of ex-service men as a whole than any other public Department, as it did on 29th April last; and what is the reason for the circumstance?
§ Mr. G. HALLI assume that the hon. and gallant Member refers to non-industrial staff. The latest figures available are those of 1st April, 1929. The percentage of disabled ex-service men, and ex-service men as a whole, amongst the Admiralty staff naturally tends to be lower than in other Departments, because such a large proportion of that staff belongs to the shipbuilding and engineering industries, and the like, in which men were allowed to volunteer for military service only to a very limited extent, because they were urgently required for warship and merchant ship building during the War. Allowing for this special feature, the Admiralty percentage does not compare unfavourably with that of other Departments.