§ 98. Sir H. Butcherasked the Minister of Defence whether his attention has been draw to the recent decisions in the cases of Nagley v. Spilsby and Evans v. Richardson; whether he is aware that certain subsistence allowances paid to civil servants whilst serving temporarily away from their normal places of employment are not regarded as giving rise to tax liability; and whether he will arrange for similar payments to be made to serving officers which will not attract liability to tax, and so remedy the hardship which was the subject of judicial comment in the cases mentioned.
§ Mr. SandysI am aware of these decisions. There is no analogy between subsistence allowance paid to civil servants and lodging allowance paid to members of the Services. Civil servants receive subsistence allowance only for those periods when temporary duty takes them away from their home, and the purpose of the allowance is to reimburse them for the extra expense involved. Members of the Forces, on the other hand, are entitled to accommodation, and lodging allowance is payable in lieu when accommodation is not available. The fact that lodging allowance is taxable is taken into account in fixing the amount.