§ Mr. Englishasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what action has 478W been taken by his Department in relation to the pay of British Service men taken prisoner during the 1939–45 war;
(2) whether the money stopped from the pay of the British Service men taken prisoner during the 1939–45 war was paid to Germany in accordance with the 1929 Geneva Convention; or if not, what happened to it.
§ Mr. PattieI have personally led an investigation within my Department into this subject and, as I told the hon. member for Norwood (Mr. Fraser) on 31 October, I have placed my findings in the form of a report in the Library of the House of Commons.
§ Mr. Englishasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will explain how the records of the pay of British Service men who were taken prisoner during the 1939–45 war were destroyed after 30 years by two of the Armed Services, but not by the third.
§ Mr. PattieThe individual pay records in all three Services for the war period have been destroyed in accordance with normal practice. However, the Navy's ledgers in which the information in the pay records was brought to account are still in existence.