asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty if he will look into the position of pensioner clerks to staff officers employed in the Intelligence Division of his Department abroad, whose case for improved conditions of service and assimilation to the clerical class was submitted by the Director of Naval Intelligence in January, 1945, and to his Department by the Association of Ex-service Civil Servants in November, 1946; whether the principal grievances which relate to inadequate salary, absence of reasonable promotion advancement, compulsory service abroad for whole of civil service career and insufficient leave for visits home have now been examined and when a decision will be reached, which is so important to these men, mostly long-service ex-members of the service.

The future of the grade of pensioner clerks to staff officers (Intelligence) depends upon the future of all pensioner clerks in Admiralty Service. This matter has been under consideration for a considerable time, but it requires consultation with other Government Departments and is one of many questions of pay and conditions of service requiring careful consideration in the postwar period. I am unable at present to state when a decision will be reached, but it will be expedited as much as possible. The present consideration covers all the pionts which have been raised by the staffs concerned.