§ Major Procterasked the Secretary of State for War (1) whether he is aware that under the Royal Warrant a higher rate of engineer pay is granted on commission to a R.E. officer who has qualified in the examinations for associate membership of the Institution of Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineers, or passed with honours in mechanical sciences tripos examinations at Cambridge or the special examinations of the Cambridge School of Military Engineering, but that failing such qualifications is unable to obtain this pay until the completion of 15 months' commissioned service; and whether he will extend this privilege to officers who have qualified in the examinations for Associate Membership of the Institution of Structural Engineers;
(2) whether he is aware that in 1930 the Army Council agreed that Associate Membership of the Institution of Structural Engineers should be regarded as qualifying Royal Engineer officers of the Supplementary Reserve and Territorial Army for engineer pay; and why, seeing that the Special and Supplementary Reserves and the Territorial Army are now fully embodied in the Armed Forces of the Crown, this privilege is still withheld from members of the Institution who are granted commissions in the Corps of Royal Engineers.
§ Sir J. GriggUnder the war-time regulations officers of the Royal Engineers (other than the Movement Control Section) are given engineer pay at the peace-time rate if they are associate members of the three Institutes mentioned in588W Article 371 or if they have had 15 months' commissioned service in the Corps. Other officers in the Corps receive pay at a new and lower rate. I am not at present satisfied that any change should be made such as is suggested by my hon. and gallant Friend. In peace-time special provisions were made in this matter, as in a number of others, for the Territorial Army and Supplementary Reserve. Officers who had vested rights under these provisions were allowed to retain them on embodiment, but new entrants naturally conform to the provisions applicable to the Army as a whole.
§ Major Procterasked the Secretary of State for War what bodies, in addition to the Institution of Structural Engineers, have submitted applications for the recognition of their examinations as qualification for the higher rate of engineer pay granted on commission to officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers; and what steps are being taken to assess the relative merits of these applications with a view to appropriate action.
§ Sir J. GriggWithout communicating with the various bodies concerned, I do not feel at liberty to disclose the information asked for in the first part of the Question. As regards the second part, I do not feel that the time is opportune for the action proposed.