asked the Secretary of State for War if he will make clear to officers commanding units in the M.E.L.F. that home leave due to personnel under their command is not conditional on their undertaking an extended period of service.

There is no question of L.I.A.P. being conditional on an individual undertaking an extended period of service. The regulations in the Middle East for L.I.A.P. are that in order to be eligible, a soldier must have served overseas for a period of 12 months, and have a minimum of four months to complete on return from leave before becoming due for Python or release. There is, however, nothing to prevent a man who is barred by the four months rule volunteering to extend his service in order to make himself eligible.

asked the Secretary of State for War why leave has not been granted to men in Group 63 stationed in Singapore though it has to Groups 61 and 62 and is to be to Group 64; and if he will remove this anomaly.

One of the conditions of eligibility for L.I.A.P. is that the soldier must have at least four months useful service to complete on return from leave before he becomes due to embark for the United Kingdom to be released. To comply with this condition, overseas commands have had to estimate when later groups are likely to be released in order to decide which groups must be excluded from L.I.A.P. drafts. I am not aware which groups are being excluded in South East Asia from drafts after this month, but the information is being obtained by cable and I will write to the hon. Member.

On a point of Order. Is it not the rule of this House that answers should be given in the English language? Can we not know what is L.I.A.P.?

I really did not hear what the hon. Gentleman was saying.

Hon. Members will know that not only in the army have we had to descend to these abbreviations, and I believe they are not unknown to Transport House. However, L.I.A.P. means "Leave in addition to Python."

May we be told what is Python?

Perhaps my hon. Friend had better see me afterwards, because I think I should only be telling him what he already knows.

rose—

If the hon. Gentleman has asked the Secretary of State and he cannot answer, and he then asks me, I cannot answer, either.

Does the answer to the original Question mean that these men will probably be released within three or four months?

That is an entirely different question. We have not announced the dates of release for those group numbers.