§ Mr. Pagetasked the Secretary of State for War the period of foreign service for Paiforce; and whether men in Paiforce are being relieved in time to enable them to get home within the period of foreign service.
§ Mr. Lawson:Paiforce no longer exists as such. Iraq Command is part of M.E.F. where the qualifying period for Python is now three years nine months. Until 1st April, 1946, it was four years, and as I 3W stated in my speech on the Army Estimates the process of reduction will be complete by the end of June. So far as I am aware there is no undue delay in the despatch of Python personnel from Iraq.
In addition to the Python scheme, there is an arrangement under which personnel serving in Iraq are crossposted within M.E.F. after two hot seasons. This crossposting is carried out whenever possible although in the case of certain specialist personnel it has not, unfortunately, always been practicable owing to lack of suitable men of the required types.