PE1312/G                                                                            

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL WELFARE AND VETERANS

Our ref: D/Min(DPWV)/AR MC05087/2010                     22 November 2010

Dear Rhona

 Thank you for your letter of 7 October; ‘Consideration of Petition PE1312’, in respect of the petition from Mr William Leitch about the ‘Yangtze 1949’ clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (1915).

 However, I am afraid that there is nothing to add to my letter of 15 June to Frank McAveety (MSU/04/04/02/12cc).  The Yangtze Incident will long remain a memorable event in the Royal Navy’s illustrious history, the institution of this medallic recognition is a matter of historic interest and the MOD has responded to recent enquiries about the qualifying criteria.

 The contemporary records relating to the institution of this recognition are now available for unrestricted public access at the National Archives, Kew under the reference; T300/71 (formerly Treasury Ceremonial Office file, CSM 232): “General Service Medal: Yangtze”.  As far as can be ascertained from the National Archives’ on-line catalogue, this is the only record relating to the institution of this medal (clasp) that is now available.  Under the provisions of Public Records legislation, official records of this vintage will have been reviewed and either selected for permanent preservation and transfer to the National Archives or otherwise destroyed.  This Treasury file is, however, specific about what the responsible authorities at the time had intended the medal (clasp) to recognise.  It is a matter of historical record that HMS CONCORD did not match the qualifying criteria, i.e. the ship was not involved in events in any way similar or equivalent to those that the medal (clasp) was specifically instituted to recognise.      

 I can only reiterate that there are no plans to reconsider the qualifying criteria for this award.  Not only are there no grounds to do so, but, as previously advised, it has also been long-standing Government policy of successive administrations that no consideration will be given to reviewing the qualifying criteria for existing medals (clasps) more than five years after the events the medal (clasp) was instituted to recognise. 

 I hope this will be helpful to the Scottish Parliament’s consideration of this Petition.

 (original signed)

ANDREW ROBATHAN MP

Has the penny dropped now??