§ The Earl of Kimberleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, as officers in the WRNS today discharge virtually the full duties of Royal Naval personnel, it is not time that their nomenclature of ranks was modernised in the same manner as those in the WRAC.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Lord Trefgarne)Members of the Women's Royal Naval Service do not in fact carry out the full range of duties of Royal Navy personnel. They do not serve at sea in HM ships except at times on a day running basis and therefore there is a wide range of duties which they are unable to undertake. Thus, WRNS officers are principally employed ashore, where they are fully interchangeable with their male counterparts in posts which do not require sea experience.