asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the temporary women clerks who are being demobilised from the Civil Service at present, or have been demobilised during the past years because of the substitution of ex-service men, are in the main those who have been retained on grounds of relative efficiency, as well as hardship, until now?

Temporary women clerks now, or recently, discharged from Government Departments with a view to their substitution by ex-service men, were retained in the main on grounds of efficiency, though in some cases consideration of exceptional hardship entailed by discharge has contributed to their retention.