§ Mr. Jaggerasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that temporary civilian clerks are being employed in commands and that serving 185W soldiers are being withdrawn from these offices for service in the War Office; that these arrangements prejudice the opportunities of time-expired soldiers securing permanent civilian employment and also detracts from the efficiency of the commands; and whether he will take steps to fill the posts concerned at the War Office by the appointment of time-expired soldiers with the requisite educational qualifications?
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaThe few cases that have occurred of the withdrawal of serving soldiers from commands for service in the War Office and their replacement by temporary civilian clerks are not sufficient to have had any material effect on efficiency in commands, nor have the opportunities of ex-soldiers of securing established posts in the War Office been affected. I would refer, in this connection, to the answer which was given to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Birkenhead West (Colonel J. S. Allen), and to my hon. Friend the Member for Deritend (Sir J. Smedley Crooke) on 5th April last.