§ Mr. McEnteeasked the Home Secretary whether he can give the House information regarding a circular issued by the prison department to all candidates for the prison service to the effect that all accepted candidates will not be allowed to engage or re-engage in any section of the Army, Navy, or Air Force reserves except in those cases where service is obligatory; that no successful candidate will be permitted to enlist in the Territorial Army; and that no successful candidate who is already a member of that body will be allowed to re-engage on completion of his term of enlistment?
§ Sir J. SimonA warning in the terms stated in the question has for some two years been included in the notice as to qualifications which must be fulfilled by candidates for the prison service. As I have previously explained, the reason is that at the present time so high a proportion of the prison staff are reservists that it is impracticable to allow more officers to undertake obligations which might result in their withdrawal for military duty at a time when they would be urgently needed in the prison service.