§ Sir W. Jamesasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if, in order to remove misunderstanding, he will cause an official notification to be inserted in the Service certificates of the chief petty officers and petty officers who were serving in the Royal Yacht on 9th September, 1939, to the effect that their reduction for about four months to able seaman and stoker shortly after the outbreak of war was not due to misconduct but in accordance with a drafting regulation; and if he will re-examine the question of restoring to these chief petty officers and petty officers the full pension which they would be receiving if they had not lost this four months' service in the higher rating.
Mr. AlexanderWhen the reversions were originally made it was provided that on Service Certificates and other documents the Royal Yacht rating was to be inserted in brackets after the General Service rating, e.g. Leading Seaman (P.O. Rigger, R.Y.). No objection is, however, seen to a notation also being inserted on Service Certificates that the men were reverted to their General Service rating on recall to General Service on mobilisation and instructions to this effect will be issued. It is not possible for pensions to be awarded on any basis other than actual service given. The difference in rates of pension involved is small: in the extreme case of a C.P.O. reverted to A.B. the difference could not exceed 5d. a week; and in most cases would be much less. The men have been given the opportunity of extending their service beyond the normal 22 years for periods sufficient to give them the rates of pension which they would have earned if they had not been reverted during this period.