HC Deb 05 April 1939 vol 345 cc2807-8W
Mr. Parker

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether, as it was considered necessary to state in the Admiralty Fleet Order about the new promotion scheme of warrant officers to lieutenant that they would be eligible to specialise under the conditions laid down for ex-cadet officers, and in the original Order about the mate scheme that those officers were to be eligible for promotion to commander and higher, he will have a statement made in a Fleet Order about the promotion prospects of the new lieutenants as there is considerable doubt on the subject not only among possible candidates but also their commanding officers and others concerned?

Mr. Shakespeare

In view of the references already made in Admiralty Fleet Order 763A/39 I do not think there is any reason for doubt. I am nevertheless making the position quite clear by arranging for the incorporation in Fleet Orders of a statement to the effect that these officers will, in due course, be considered for promotion with officers of similar seniority entered from other sources.

Mr. Parker

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether the Admiralty will reconsider the maximum retired pay of £346 a year for warrant officers promoted under the new scheme to lieutenant, who can complete 19 years' commissioned service, observing that many officers commissioned as mates be tween 1913 and 1931, of the ages of 25 and 26 years, were eligible for the maximum rate of retired pay of lieutenant-commanders, ex-cadet, and are, in fact, now in receipt of the full rate of £407 10s. per annum?

Mr. Shakespeare

Considerations that applied to the Mate Scheme are not applicable to the new scheme of promotion from warrant rank. It has been decided that it was more appropriate to offer them the same terms as officers transferred from the Royal Naval Reserve, but with the benefit of reckoning former warrant officer service in full and one-half of man's service from the age of 18.