HC Deb 01 November 1932 vol 269 cc1618-20W
Mr. POTTER

asked the Home Secretary whether, having regard to the distress from which many ex-service men are suffering owing to unemployment, he will consider the question of recommending the police authorities throughout the country to engage the services of such men who have the necessary qualifications for the police duties now being carried out by police reservists who are in receipt of pensions from the State?

Sir J. GILMOUR

This is a. matter which, I think, I must leave to the discretion of the police authorities concerned. It is open to police authorities to enrol suitable ex-service men as police reservists, but in many cases, when they require men for temporary duty, it is essential that they should have had police training, and I fear that the scope for the employment of ex-service personnel in the field in now limited.