§ Sir A. Knoxasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that, in selecting executive officer civil servants from other Departments for transfer to the Air Ministry, junior men with no naval, military, or Air Force service are being selected in preference to senior men who served with the fighting forces during the Great War; and whether, in future transfers to Defence Departments, steps will be taken to ensure that ex-service men in possession of the necessary qualifications are given that preference to which their war service entitles them?
§ Captain WallaceOn two occasions in the last two years the Air Ministry have filled vacancies in the bottom grade of the executive class by transfer. Twenty officers have been so transferred, of whom nine are ex-service men. Inter-departmental transfers of this kind must necessarily be arranged primarily by reference to the duties to be performed, and the qualifications of the individuals. The question of age distribution must also be borne in mind.