Deferments (Extension) (Hansard, 16 April 1957)

§ Mr. Iain Macleod

Yes. I have decided to extend deferment of call-up for study or training, within the framework of the present policy, to cover certain classes of young men who have not hitherto been eligible. These include, among others, categories of apprentices and learners who for various reasons are at present outside the field for deferment, as well as men training to be technicians, and certain part-time students who are working for examinations of a high standard but do not satisfy the practical training requirements of the present student deferment arrangements.

Following are the full details: It has been decided to extend the present arrangements for the deferment of call-up of apprentices, pupils, learners and students in the following categories:—

(a) Men who claim to be apprentices or learners, who are not covered by existing generally recognised schemes of apprenticeship or training e.g., men whose training is designed to meet the requirements of a section of an industry or an individual employer. National Service Deferment Boards will require to be fully satisfied that the training given will be such as to produce a fully skilled man, even though the skill attained is biassed towards the needs of the individual employer. The grant of deferment will be subject to the existing conditions as to age. of entry, standard of training, etc.
(b) Men who are being trained as "technicians", i.e., workers who on the completion of training, will be qualified by specialist technical education and practical training to work under the general direction of a technologist. Deferment will be granted on the basis that practical training 186 on the job is combined with part-time study for an approved examination. The main test will be (a) where the examination qualification is lower than Higher National Certificate or its equivalent, the standard of practical training or (b) where the qualification required is Higher National Certificate or equivalent, the standard of the examination, it being understood that arrangements for satisfactory practical training must exist. The employer must be prepared to grant day release for study of not less than 8 hours per week on average.
(c). Students taking part-time course of study. The arrangements relating to articled pupils, student apprentices and others studying part-time for certain professional examinations will remain unchanged, but in future deferment will also be granted to a man taking a part-time course of study provided That the course has a vocational bearing on the employent he is following, that it is for an examination of a high standard and that day release for study of not less than 8 hours a week on average is allowed by the employer. The courses of study which will qualify applicants for consideration will be those undertaken for the purpose of obtaining a University degree, or a Higher National Certificate, or in preparation for an examination not below the Higher National Certificate standard leading to a qualification which is widely recognised in the profession or industry concerned. The course must be one which can normally be completed before the end of the academic year, ending 31st July, during which the man reaches 23 years of age.
(d) Craft apprentices who have completed their apprenticeship. Deferment will be extended beyond the present limits where this is needed to continue part-time study for qualifications not essential to such men to follow their occupation but of use to them in their careers, where the man has, by his early start and by his application to his studies during apprenticeship attained a high standard by the end of his apprenticeship.
(e) Students taking full-time course of study. Apart from deferment to attend full-time courses at Universities, University Colleges, Agricultural and Technical Colleges, and certain other institutions of further education, arrangements exist under which deferment is at present allowed for full-time courses of lower standard which can be regarded as appropriate to the career a man proposes to follow. It is proposed to extend these arrangements to cover students in full-time attendance at other approved courses, provided that such courses can be completed by the end of the academic year, ending 31st July, in which the student reaches the age of 20 years.

It will be an over-riding condition in all these concessions that the course of study or training must, as at present, have been entered into sufficiently early to establish the bona fides of the application for deferment.