§ Captain Kerbyasked the Secretary of State for Air what date was taken as the datum line in deciding whether a man, who was the product of the Government vocational training programme before the late war, and who had no other engineering or industrial background, was to be registered as a dilutee, or recognised as a craftsman, under the Temporary Relaxation of Existing Customs Agreement between his Department and the Amalgamated Engineering Union.
§ Mr. BirchI cannot add to the reply which I gave my hon. and gallant Friend on the question of the effective date of the Agreement on 27th March.
§ Captain Kerbyasked the Secretary of State for Air what trade union agreements permitted his Department to employ as skilled aircraft fitters, at No. 1 Flying Training School, Netheravon, Wiltshire, in 1938, men who had no other engineering background than a vocational training course at Park Royal Government Training Centre; and why it was thought necessary to replace these agreements by the Temporary Relaxation of Customs Agreement dated 21st October, 1939.
§ Mr. BirchThe answer to the first part of the Question is "None". The second part does not therefore arise.
§ Captain Kerbyasked the Secretary of State for Air which part of the Temporary Relaxation of Existing Customs 103W Agreement between his Department and the Amalgamated Engineering Union requires or permits his Department to register as dilutees those employees who were, previous to the outbreak of the late war, employed by his Department as skilled men.
§ Mr. BirchNo part of the Agreement specifically requires this, but, in accordance with its spirit and intention, any man who at the time it was signed was employed on work which came within its terms and whose industrial history did not entitle him to recognition as a skilled craftsman was registered as a dilutee.