§ Mr. Churchillasked the Secretary of State for Defence why a Ministry of Defence civil servant qualifies for a disturbance allowance more than 2½ times greater than that allowed to a soldier on taking up a new duty station within the United Kingdom or abroad; why a civil servant posted overseas may ship his car at public expense and obtain an allowance in respect of his wife's car, yet similar facilities are not available to Service men; and if, in the interest of maintaining harmony between the military and civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence, he will now see that Her Majesty's Forces cease to be treated disadvantageously in this way.
§ Dr. GilbertThere are many allowances which differ between Service and civilian personnel, to take account of very different conditions of service. There have been no changes in the basic rules for either disturbance allowance or civilian transfer grants for many years, and I am not aware of any real pressure within the Services for improvement in the rates of disturbance allowance. There are other improvements to which the Services give a much higher priority.
As I explained to the hon. Member on 18th April, a Service man may claim motor mileage allowance for both his own and his wife's car on posting within the United Kingdom. A civil servant receives no allowance in respect of his wife's car when he is posted overseas.