HC Deb 30 January 1964 vol 688 cc544-62

3.50 p.m.

Miss Margaret Herbison (Lanarkshire, North)

I beg to move, in page 1, line 5, to leave out from beginning to the second "the".

The Chairman

I think that it will be convenient to discuss with this Amendment the Amendments in page 1, line 11, leave out from "apprentice)" to end of line 12 and insert: the words 'before he or she attains the age of eighteen years' were omitted", in page 2, line 1, leave out from "her)" to end of line 2 and insert: there shall be omitted the words 'is under the age of eighteen years and'", and in page 2, line 5, leave out from "eighteen)" to end of line 6 and insert: there shall be omitted the words 'was under the age of eighteen years and'".

Miss Herbison

Since all the Amendments hang together, it is much better that they should be taken together, Sir William.

This matter was raised on Second Reading by members not only of the Opposition Front Bench but of the Opposition back benches. A number of my hon. Friends have had correspondence with the Minister about it. As a result of that correspondence, together with, perhaps, pressure from both sides of the Committee, the Government decided to raise the age in question from 18 to 19 years. These Amendments, if accepted, would do away with the age limit altogether and would make dependency, and not age, the criterion.

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary replied to the points made on Second Reading when she wound up the debate. I listened very carefully to what she said. Since then, I have read the OFFICIAL REPORT to see what she said. All that the hon. Lady was able to bring forward was a long rigmarole about all the anomalies which would be created if our request were granted.

I wish to take up one of the first things which the hon. Lady said. She gave a number of examples by which she tried to prove that some people would get this money when they were not in need of it. But family allowances are paid generally without a means test being carried out. If the hon. Lady were to follow her argument to its logical conclusion, that conclusion would have to be that family allowances were paid throughout on a means test basis. I understand that the Government do not accept that, and we on this side certainly do not accept it. I therefore think that the hon. Lady's first argument was completely "phoney".

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary pointed out on Second Reading that perhaps it would be better if young people over 19 years of age came under a discretionary system. Yet she said: The discretionary system often benefits people far more than a rigid insurance system. Where there is a discretion, often those people whose need is greatest get far more than they do under a rigid insurance system. But local authorities vary enormously one from another … the standard of help given to the widow or the person with a dependent child at college varies very much. We therefore thought fit to deal with the bulk of the cases now by increasing the age limit from 18 to 19."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 22nd January, 1964; Vol. 687, c. 1192] That statement backs up the case for the Amendment. What, in effect, the hon. Lady said was that during the period between 18 and 19 years of age—the present age limit is 18; the new one will be 19—local authorities have discretion to help, but, because their help varies so greatly, the Government have decided that, even though it may cause difficulties to raise the age to 19, they are going to raise it. If this applies to 19 years of age, it applies just as much to any age of dependency while a young person is being educated. I think that that demolishes another of the hon. Lady's arguments.

In another part of her speech the Joint Parliamentary Secretary said: If we were not to make that period end at a specified age but dependent upon the end of education we think that it would put an almost intolerable burden on the child, who would be under very great pressure to continue education, regardless of whether he was a suitable subject or not, in order to qualify his mother for widow's benefit if the age of 50 was reached by the mother during the critical time."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 22nd January, 1964; Vol. 687, c. 1190.] It would not be the mothers putting an intolerable burden on the child. There would be, and always is, an intolerable burden on these children.

Is it not a sad reflection on our present legislation that the question whether a person should carry on as a student until 20 years of age should be affected by whether or not his mother would continue to obtain her pension, which at present is £3 7s. 6d. What the hon. Lady is saying is that if the age were raised from 19 to 20 years, in the example which I am giving, whether or not a child were capable of benefiting from the education, the mother might insist on the child continuing in full-time education so that she would reach the age of 50 during that time and continue to receive her £3 7s. 6d.

Should not the Govenment approach the matter from another angle? Should not they have realised long before this that it is an intolerable burden on any woman to realise that, having reached the age of 49 years and 6 months and after caring for a family, and because her last child leaves full-time education, she will lose her £3 7s. 6d. and may get only 10s. a week or nothing at all? If the Government had given as much thought to that aspect of the problem as they have to the question of the anomalies which might arise if we made the criterion dependence and not age, we should not be discussing the problem of the woman who might reach the age of 50 while her child continued his education between the ages of 19 and 20, or 19 and 21, or 19 and 22. I ask the Minister and the Joint Parliamentary Secretary to give serious thought to this.

I emphasise that it was the present Government which changed the age from 40 to 50 years. In the meantime, many widowed mothers have suffered very greatly. Many of them have missed by a year, a month, a week or even a day obtaining a pension which we on this side feel they should have had. All the reasons given by the Joint Parliamentary Secretary are reasons of expediency and not of principle at all. I ask her and the Minister to have second thoughts on this matter. I ask the hon. Lady to bend her thoughts to this matter and to accept the Amendment. If she finds that impossible, I ask her to give the reasons why it is impossible, but I hope that we shall not hear arguments about the difficulty of administration or the kind of "phoney" reasons which we were given on Second Reading.

4.0 p.m.

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)

I will try to deal as quickly as I can with the arguments raised by the hon. Lady the Member for Lanarkshire, North (Miss Herbison), but I should point out that what she expresses to be her intention is very different from what her Amendments would achieve.

Perhaps I may deal with the question a little more generally than the hon. Lady did in the context of what her Amendments would do. The whole legislation which the Amendments would change is basically legislation to deal with children, it is drafted to deal with children and it has been interpreted as dealing with children in their middle to late teens. It is all relevant to that context.

The Amendment moved by the hon. Lady would alter the definition of a child. It would leave out the limit prescribed within the family allowances regulations so that the definition of a child would become A person shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as a child during any period while he or she is undergoing full-time instruction in school or is an apprentice. That depends, therefore, upon what is a school in this context and how the phrase full-time instruction is interpreted.

"School" is defined widely to include instruction not only in a school in the ordinary sense of the word, but also in a university, college, establishment for further education or other educational establishment as defined or within the meaning of the Education Act. The regulations also allow any other establishment to be treated as a school for the purposes of the Act if in the opinion of the Minister it should be treated as an establishment similar to one of those specified. Partly because the legislation is dealing in the context of children, a number of other establishments have been specified as schools, including commercial schools, comptometer and other calculating machine schools, dancing, dramatic, speech training and music schools, schools of hairdressing, riding schools, sea training schools, Outward Bound schools and schools run by the National Institute of Houseworkers. They have all been recognised because under the existing legislation, an age limit is prescribed within the Act which limits that Act to children of the age group that I have tried to describe as "middle to late teens".

A child is a person who is undergoing full-time instruction in any one of those establishments. Full-time instruction is also generously interpreted. As a general rule, it means receiving during a week about 20 hours' instruction before five o'clock in a class. Therefore, according to the hon. Lady's definition, anyone receiving full-time instruction in any of those establishments is a child and would qualify, therefore, for dependency increases on either unemployment, sickness or widowed mother's benefit.

I notice that the hon. Lady does not intend such people to qualify for family allowances, although I was not certain whether she was trying to have a different rule for family allowances and National Insurance merely to get the Amendment in order, or whether she intended to have a different rule.

Mr. G. R. Mitchison (Kettering)

I had some responsibility for drafting the Amendment. If I may satisfy the hon. Lady's curiosity, the reason why family allowances have been left out is that they are paid out of public funds and we should, therefore, be out of order in attempting to put forward an Amendment. We sometimes hope that the Government will be consistent.

Mrs. Thatcher

I was hoping that the hon. and learned Member would be consistent. He has now explained his inconsistency in his Amendments concerning family allowances.

The new definition would, therefore, apply to those taking a second or third degree at university—a research degree after an ordinary degree—even while they were receiving a grant or bursary which would normally make them independent because they were at a school—that is, a university—receiving full-time instruction of 20 hours a week. They might also be doing demonstrating. I remember that when taking my first science degree, many people in that category did demonstration work in the vacation, but they would still be children for the purposes of the Acts with which we are concerned.

If the hon. and learned Member intends to include family allowances in these provisions, the application of his Amendment to family allowances would mean that a student or graduate might well be married, have children of his own and get family allowances, and yet, because for the purposes of the hon. Lady's definition he was still a child, he might qualify his own parents to receive family allowances in respect of him.

I hope that the hon. Lady will appreciate the significance of the point which I made at the outset. This whole legis- lation is drafted in respect and in the context of children and late teen-agers, with the expectation that there will be a limit to these things and that that limit will come in the age limit and not merely in the description of schools.

I turn now to the provisions concerning widowed mothers, with which one of the Amendments is concerned. A widowed mother's allowance may continue in respect of her child for two reasons. One is that the child is still residing with her up to the age—in the Bill—of 19. The child might, in fact, be earning and independent, but because she still resides with the mother she continues to qualify her mother for the widowed mother's allowance.

If we removed the age limit, as the hon. Lady's Amendment would do, any widowed mother who had a son or daughter residing with her would continue to get widowed mother's personal allowance, with its advantageous earnings rule, so long as the child was with her; and a child is not defined except by relation to the ordinary family allowances provision. Thus, in the case of a mother with a single daughter who never gets married, if the child continued to reside with her mother even though she was 30 or 40 years of age, she would still qualify her mother for a widowed mother's allowance.

The other limb of the widowed mother's benefit when she has children living with her is that she still continues to receive it so long as the child is at an educational establishment and is not older than 19. These two provisions march together. At the moment, therefore, the course of the child's education is unlikely to affect the widowed mother's benefit position, because the mother will get it so long as the child is residing with her whether or not she is continuing her education.

Under the hon. Lady's Amendment, there would be no limit to the residence condition, and this, of course, has nothing whatever to do with the test given by the hon. Lady of education and dependency So long as the son or daughter was residing with the mother, even though they got married and brought husbands or wives home to live with them, they would qualify their mother for widowed mother's allowance.

Even when the education has ceased, if the child has come home he or she will still continue to qualify the mother for the widowed mother's allowance. If the hon. Lady states that she did not intend this residence provision to continue indefinitely, the other factor becomes important. As the hon. Lady knows, the important factor is whether the mother is 50 years of age when the son or daughter reaches 19. The hon. Lady made some comments about this, but they are more relevant to a later Amendment.

Clearly, we will get one or two tricky circumstances if there is no age limit. At the moment—

Miss Herbison

The hon. Lady has said that I made reference to that, but that it applies to another Amendment. It applies also in this case, because I was taking up the points that the hon. Lady has made in resisting the criterion of dependency.

Mrs. Thatcher

On the assumption that the same provisions would qualify for a widowed mother's benefit and the age limit of 50 would stay. Without an age limit on the child, we should come to a very tricky moment.

For example, if the mother were to become 50 within a few months of the child reaching 19 and the child wanted to cease its education and go out to earn a living—a girl might have come to the end of a secretarial course—the mother might say, "If you go on for another six months, I shall be 50, and, therefore, become entitled to benefit between the age of 50 and 60", which would amount to very nearly £2,000. That is the amount that would be at stake.

Bearing in mind the list I have given of establishments ranking as schools, it would be very tempting for the mother, or for the child, to say, "Shall I go back for another six months, or perhaps take a language course?" The Act would be open to a good deal of manipulation. We think that it would be better to recognise the context in which these provisions were drafted, which is for children, keep the age limit of 19, and deal with it by the Anderson grants. The grants to which I referred on the last occasion as being discretionary were the grants which applied to secondary school education. These vary a great deal between one local authority and another.

As soon as a person comes into a silghtly higher age group qualifying for grant to go to university or college at the higher education grant, the system of Anderson grants is uniform throughout the country. As the hon. Lady probably knows a maximum grant of £300 for maintenance over and above tuition is awarded in those circumstances and there is provision for supplementation to the person who has to go home during the vacation and cannot expect to be supported by a mother or father.

We think that to remove the age limit would make nonsense of the residential qualification for widowed mothers' allowance and also make nonsense of the family allowance provision, if the intention were to apply the age limit to that as well. We think, therefore, that the Bill as it is, without the Amendment, would be better—to extend the limit to the age of 19, which will deal with the bulk of the cases. When the limit was fixed at 18 in 1956 there were 19,500 children aged 18 or over still at school in Great Britain. In 1962, the figure was 31,500, so more children are staying on later.

We think that the increase to 19 will still preserve the essence of the Family Allowances Act as providing for children and will deal with the majority of the cases. Over and above those cases, the matter is better dealt with by reference to the Anderson grant system. I hope, therefore, that the Committee will reject the Amendment.

Mr. Mitchison

To what extent will this depend on the definition of the school, that is to say, the Order which the hon. Lady read out, including a number of establishments as schools? She will realise that that Order was made by the Minister, it could be revoked and a more appropriate Order substituted if that were required. There is really no point in the terms of that Order, and I should like to know how far it comes into these figures.

Mrs. Thatcher

The definition of schools which I gave referred only to schools for family allowance purposes. That is an extended definition of establishments similar to schools. The figures that I have given of children staying on relate to secondary schools in the ordinary meaning of the words. The hon. and learned Gentleman has emphasised my point that because the Act applied to children we have tried to be generous all along, in every one of these interpretations, and the basis is that it is not suitable for extending the right into the ordinary period of adulthood.

4.15 p.m.

Miss Herbison

The reply which we have received from the hon. Lady deals, first, with the Amendments on the Notice Paper. It is true that my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Mitchison) is very good at working out Amendments, but neither he nor I would ever claim that we are as fortunate as the hon. Lady in having the staff of the Ministry beside her to help her.

The hon. Lady and the Minister are very well aware what we want by our Amendment. When the hon. Lady comes to the second part of her case and leaves the technicalities of the Amendment, she shows very clearly that what we want the Government at this stage are not prepared to give.

I want to refer to a letter which came from the hon. Lady to one of my hon. Friends, when he was asking to have the age raised above 18, merely, I think, at that time, to 19. The hon. Lady, in her letter of 19th July, 1963, wrote these words: Age 18 was adopted because it was the highest practical point that could be fitted into the national insurance and family allowances schemes and it has not so far proved possible to improve upon it. There has to be a point at which childhood comes to an

end for these purposes and it could not be taken beyond the age 18 without far-reaching consequences in the structure and administration of both schemes.

The Government, a few months after the hon. Lady sent that letter to my hon. Friend, discovered that they could overcome the consequences, both structural and administrative, in order to raise the limit from 18 to 19 years of age. We on this side of the Committee feel that the difficulties which were inherent in raising it from 18 to 19 could just as easily be overcome in changing it to dependency.

I would again make the plea to the Minister to have another look at this. Of course, no one on this side of the Committee wants the position which the hon. Lady says would result if this Amendment were accepted, of a widowed mother in those circumstances continuing to receive a pension for the rest of her life. What we want from the Minister is an answer to the point that we are making about making these people really dependent, that the age should go up to about 22 on full-time education and that those taking perhaps a primary degree should be covered by this scheme.

If the Government had the will to do so they themselves could find the right form of words. It could not be done at this stage, but they could put down appropriate Amendments in another place. Unless we get an assurance that they will do so, we shall have to vote on these Amendments as they are on the Notice Paper.

Question put, That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Clause:—

The Committee divided: Ayes 191, Noes 159.

Division No. 11.] AYES [4.20 p.m.
Agnew, Sir Peter Boyd-Carpenter, Rt. Hon. John Clarke, Brig. Terence (Portsmth, W.)
Allason, James Boyle, Rt. Hon, Sir Edward Cleaver, Leonard
Arbuthnot, Sir John Braine, Bernard Cole, Norman
Awdry, Daniel (Chippenham) Brewls, John Cordeaux, Lt.-Col. J. K.
Barlow, Sir John Bromley-Davenport, Lt.-Col. Sir Walter Cordle, John
Barter, John Brown, Alan (Tottenham) Corfield, F. V.
Batsford, Brian Browne, Percy (Torrington) Costain, A. P.
Beamish, Col. Sir Tufton Bryan, Paul Courtney, Cdr. Anthony
Bennett, Dr. Reginald (Gos & Fhm) Bullus, Wing Commander Eric Critchley, Julian
Berkeley, Humphry Campbell, Gordon (Moray & Nairn) Crowder, F. P.
Biffen, John Carr, Rt. Hon. Robert (Mitcham) Cunningham, Sir Knox
Bishop, Sir Patrick Cary, Sir Robert Dance, James
Black, Sir Cyril Chataway, Christopher d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, Sir Henry
Bossom, Hon. Clive Chichester-Clark, R. Deedes, Rt. Hon. W. F.
Bourne-Arton, A. Churchill, Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Digby, Simon Wingfield
Box, Donald Clark, Henry (Antrim, N.) Donaldson, Cmdr. C. E. M.
Drayson, G. B. Jennings, J. C. Powell, Rt. Hon. J. Enoch
du Cann, Edward Johnson, Eric (Blackley) Prior, J. M. L.
Eden, Sir John Johnson Smith, Geoffrey Prior-Palmer, Brig. Sir Otho
Elliot, Capt. Walter (Carshalton) Jones, Arthur (Northants, S.) Pym, Francis
Elliott, R. W. (Newc'tle-upon-Tyne, N.) Joseph, Rt. Hon. Sir Keith Quennett, Miss J. M.
Emmet, Hon. Mrs. Evelyn Kaberry, Sir Donald Rawlinson, Rt. Hon. Sir Peter
Errington, Sir Eric Kerans, Cdr. J. S. Redmayne, Rt. Hon. Martin
Farey-Jones, F. W. Kerby, Capt. Henry Ridley, Hon. Nicholas
Farr, John Kirk, Peter Ridsdale, Julian
Fell, Anthony Lagden, Godfrey Roberts, Sir Peter (Heeley)
Finlay, Graeme Legge-Bourke, Sir Harry Roots, William
Fisher, Nigel Lewis, Kenneth (Rutland) Ropner, Col. Sir Leonard
Fraser, Ian (Plymouth, Sutton) Lilley, F. J. P. Russell, Sir Ronald
Freeth, Denzil Lindsay, Sir Martin Scott-Hopkins, James
Gammans, Lady Litchfield, Capt. John Sharples, Richard
Gilmour, Ian (Norfolk, Central) Lloyd, Rt. Hon. Selwyn (Wirral) Shaw, M.
Goodhew, Victor Longden, Gilbert Skeet, T. H. H.
Gough, Frederick Loveys, Walter H. Smith, Dudley (Br'ntf'd & Chiswick)
Grant-Ferris, R. Lucas Tooth, Sir Hugh Spearman, Sir Alexander
Green, Alan McAdden, Sir Stephen Stainton, Keith
Gresham Cooke, R. MacArthur, Ian Stanley, Hon. Richard
Grosvenor, Lord Robert McLaren, Martin Stodart, J. A.
Hall, John (Wycombe) McLean, Neil (Inverness) Studholme, Sir Henry
Hamilton, Michael (Wellingborough) Maginnis, John E. Summers, Sir Spencer
Harris, Frederic (Croydon, N. W.) Marshall, Sir Douglas Taylor, Edwin (Bolton, E.)
Harrison, Brian (Malden) Marten, Neil Taylor, Frank (M'ch'st'r, Moss Side)
Harrison, Col. Sir Harwood (Eye) Maude, Angus (Stratford-on-Avon) Thatcher, Mrs. Margaret
Harvey, Sir Arthur Vere (Macclesf'd) Maxwell-Hyslop, R. J. Thomas, Sir Leslie (Canterbury)
Hastings, Stephen Maydon, Lt.-Cmdr. S. L. C. Thompson, Sir Richard (Croydon, S.)
Heald, Rt. Hon. Sir Lionel Mills, Stratton Touche, Rt. Hon. Sir Gordon
Heath, Rt. Hon. Edward Montgomery, Fergus Turner, Colin
Hendry, Forbes More, Jasper (Ludlow) van Straubenzee, W. R.
Hiley, Joseph Morgan, William Vaughan-Morgan, Rt. Hon. Sir John
Hill, J. E. B. (S. Norfolk) Morrison, John Vosper, Rt. Hon. Dennis
Hirst, Geoffrey Mott-Radclyffe, Sir Charles Walker, Peter
Hocking, Philip N. Nugent, Rt. Hon. Sir Richard Wall, Patrick
Hogg, Rt. Hon. Quintin Oakshott, Sir Hendrie Ward, Dame Irene
Holland, Philip Orr-Ewing, Sir Ian (Hendon, North) Williams, Dudley (Exeter)
Hollingworth, John Osborn, John (Hallam) Williams, Paul (Sunderland, S.)
Hopkins, Alan Osborne, Sir Cyril (Louth) Wills, Sir Gerald (Bridgwater)
Hornby, R. P. Page, Graham (Crosby) Wise, A. R.
Hornsby-Smith, Rt. Hon. Dame P. Page, John (Harrow, West) Wolrige Gordon, Patrick
Howard, Hon. G. R. (St. Ives) Pannell, Norman (Kirkdale) Wood, Rt. Hon. Richard
Hughes-Young, Michael Partridge, E. Woodnutt, Mark
Hutchison, Michael Clark Pearson, Frank (Clitheroe) Yates, William (The Wrekin)
Irvine, Bryant Godman (Rye) Peyton, John
Jackson, John Pickthorn, Sir Kenneth TELLERS FOR THE AYES:
James, David Pitt, Dame Edith Mr. Peel and Mr. Hugh Rees.
Jenkins, Robert (Dulwich) Pounder, Rafton
NOES
Albu, Austen Donnelly, Desmond Houghton, Douglas
Allaun, Frank (Salford, E.) Duffy, A. E. P. (Colne Valley) Howie, W. (Luton)
Allen, Scholefield (Crewe) Ede, Rt. Hon. C. Hoy, James H.
Barnett, Guy Edelman, Maurice Hughes, Emrys (S. Ayrshire)
Baxter, William (Stirlingshire, W.) Edwards, Robert (Biston) Hughes, Hector (Aberdeen, N.)
Beaney, Alan Edwards, Walter (Stepney) Hunter, A. E.
Ballenger, Rt. Hon. F. J. Evans, Albert Hynd, H. (Accrington)
Benn, Anthony Wedgwood Finch, Harold Hynd, John (Attercliffe)
Bennett, J. (Glasgow, Bridgeton) Fitch, Alan Irvine, A. J. (Edge Hill)
Benson, Sir George Fraser, Thomas (Hamilton) Irving, Sydney (Dartford)
Blackburn, F. Galpern, Sir Myer Janner, Sir Barnett
Blyton, William Ginsburg, David Jay, Rt. Hon. Douglas
Boardman, H. Gordon Walker, Rt. Hon. P. C. Jeger, George
Bottomley, Rt. Hon. A. G. Gourlay, Harry Johnson, Carol (Lewisham, S.)
Bowden, Rt. Hn. H. W. (Leics, S. W.) Greenwood, Anthony Jones, Rt. Hn. A. Creech (Wakefield)
Boyden, James Grey, Charles Jones, Dan (Burnley)
Bradley, Tom Griffiths, David (Rother Valley) Kelley, Richard
Bray, Dr. Jeremy Griffiths, Rt. Hon. James (Llanelly) Kenyon, Clifford
Brockway, A. Fenner Grimond, Rt. Hon. J. Ledger, Ron
Brown, Rt. Hon. George (Belper) Hale, Leslie (Oldham, W.) Lee, Frederick (Newton)
Carmichael, Neil Hamilton, William (West Fife) Lee, Miss Jennie (Cannock)
Castle, Mrs. Barbara Hannan, William Lewis, Arthur (West Ham, N.)
Collick, Percy Harper, Joseph Lipton, Marcus
Cronin, John Hart, Mrs. Judith Loughlin, Charles
Cullen, Mrs. Alice Hayman, F. H. Lubbock, Eric
Dalyell, Tam Healey, Denis Mabon, Dr. J. Dickson
Darling, George Henderson, Rt. Hn. Arthur (Rwly Regis) MacColl, James
Davies, G. Elfed (Rhondda, E.) Herbison, Miss Margaret McKay, John (Wallsend)
Davies, Ifor (Gower) Hill, J. (Midlothian) Mackie, John (Enfield, East)
Davies, S. O. (Merthyr) Hilton, A. V. McLeavy, Frank
Doig, Peter Holman, Percy Mallalieu, E. L. (Brigg)
Mallalieu, J. P. W. (Huddersfield, E.) Peart, Frederick Stross, Sir Barnett (Stoke-on-Trent, C.)
Manuel, Archie Popplewell, Ernest Swain, Thomas
Mapp, Charles Price, J. T. (Westhoughton) Symonds, J. B.
Marsh, Richard Probert, Arthur Taverne, D.
Mason, Roy Randall, Harry Taylor, Bernard (Mansfield)
Mendelson, J. J. Redhead, E. C. Thomas, Iorwerth (Rhondda, W.)
Millan, Bruce Rees, Merlyn (Leeds, S.) Thomson, G. M. (Dundee, E.)
Milne, Edward Reid, William Thornton, Ernest
Mitchison, G. R. Reynolds, G. W. Tomney, Frank
Monslow, Walter Rhodes, H. Wade, Donald
Moody, A. S. Roberts, Goronwy (Caernarvon) Wainwright, Edwin
Morris, Charles (Openshaw) Robertson, John (Paisley) Warbey, William
Morris, John Rodgers, W. T. (Stockton) Wells, William (Walsall, N.)
Noel-Baker, Rt. Hn. Philip (Derby, S.) Ross, William White, Mrs. Eirene
O'Malley, B. K. Silkin, John Wilkins, W. A.
Oram, A. E. Silverman, Julius (Aston) Willey, Frederick
Owen, Will Slater, Mrs. Harriet (Stoke, N.) Williams, D. J. (Neath)
Paget, R. T. Sorensen, R. W. Wilson, Rt. Hon. Harold (Huyton)
Pannell, Charles (Leeds, W.) Soskice, Rt. Hon. Sir Frank Woof, Robert
Parker, John Spriggs, Leslie Yates, Victor (Ladywood)
Parkin, B. T. Steele, Thomas
Pavitt, Laurence Stonehouse, John TELLERS FOR THE NOES:
Pearson, Arthur (Pontypridd) Strauss, Rt. Hn. G. R. (Vauxhall) Mr. Lawson and
Mr. Charles A. Howell.

Question proposed, That the Clause stand part of the Bill.

4.30 p.m.

Mr. Bruce Millan (Glasgow, Craigton)

I put down an Amendment which has not been selected, but which would have had the effect of making the Clause apply from the date of the Prime Minister's announcement of these changes, namely, 10th December, 1963. The Amendment was in page 2, line 6, at the end to add: (4) In relation to the National Insurance Acts 1946 to 1963 and the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Acts 1946 to 1963 this section shall have effect and shall be deemed always to have had effect since the 10th December 1963. I believe that the transitional provisions in Schedule 3 are also involved.

As the Clause stands, taken in conjunction with the transitional provisions which come later, its effect will be that certain children will have fallen out of the National Insurance benefits and will come in again when the Bill comes into operation. It happens that within the last couple of weeks two cases have been brought to my attention of children reaching the age of 18 about last November and still at school, but in respect of whom National Insurance benefits have not been paid since. In one case an old-age pensioner is the parent, and in the other the father is receiving sickness benefit.

I understand that the Minister intends to bring in the changes by Order, and that the Order will apply from about 30th March. In the kind of case I have mentioned, the children concerned will again become eligible for dependents' allowances as from 30th March. We will then have the anomalous position of a gap between about November and about the end of March, and I suggest that when a change of this kind is being made, it would be better to make some provision for retrospective payment.

After all, we are admitting that the legislation was wrong in laying down the age limit of 18. As has been pointed out, there is very little change of circumstances which makes 19 right now which did not make 19 right several months ago, and perhaps even longer ago. In those circumstances, it seems a pity that we cannot get some kind of retrospective payment. People in kind of circumstances I have mentioned were, naturally, interested in the Prime Minister's announcement, but many are now disappointed to find that the change is not yet effective.

Mr. Norman Cole (Bedfordshire, South)

I am sure that we are all sympathetic to the many cases of those who have lost this allowance for six months and who are possibly to get it back. However, the hon. Member for Glasgow, Craigton (Mr. Millan) will appreciate that if the Amendment had gone through, and the qualification had been made still being dependent, the same thing would have happened if a child had again become dependent by going to some kind of training college.

Mr. Millan

I am not talking about the Amendment which we have just discussed and the Amendment in my name would not have had that effect. What I am saying is that people involved in cases of the kind I have described were encouraged by the Prime Minister's announcement that a change was to be made, but have since been disappointed to find that the change will not become effective until about the end of March, and perhaps slightly beyond that. There is a certain anomaly. I understand that there might be difficulties about making retrospective payment, but I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will say something about this aspect of the matter.

The Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (Mr. Richard Wood)

The hon. Member for Glasgow, Craigton (Mr. Millan) has made the case which he would have made if his Amendment had been selected, and I shall try to answer it. The only sense in which one can admit that this legislation proves that former legislation was wrong is the sense in which any subsequent legislation admits that previous legislation was wrong, by changing it. That argument for retrospection could be transferred to any legislation.

I should like to deal with the substance of the hon. Member's case, which is a serious one. I understand that his aim would be to give the benefit of the increase in National Insurance and Industrial Injuries benefits back to the date of the announcement by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, on 10th December, to anyone who had a "qualified child" between the ages of 18 and 19 between that date, 10th December, and 30th March, when, as I announced last week, the Bill is to take effect.

There are important practical difficulties about retrospection in this kind of case. If we were to pay back to 10th December, 1963, it would be necessary to examine the papers of all persons who have drawn benefit between 10th December, 1963, and 30th March this year, to see whether anything was owed to them. The scale of that operation becomes evident when I point out that the number of sickness benefit claims a week is about 200,000, that people go on and off the sick list, and that about 50,000 of that 200,000 claimants are on sickness benefit for only a week or less. Therefore, even in the time which has gone by so far since 10th December, there would be more than 1 million claims, and there might well be another 1 million by the time the Bill was through.

This would be an immense labour. I have no doubt that the work involved in finding the cases which the hon. Member would like to find would delay the fixing of the day on which the Bill came into operation. I hope that the Committee will agree with me that the staff of the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance deserves congratulations for bringing this rather complicated Bill into effect so quickly. The kind of operation which the hon. Gentleman has suggested would prevent the staff from meeting the target of 30th March.

One general point is that the purpose of the payments which the hon. Gentleman has in mind is to meet current needs, the needs at the time, and in that sense there is less argument for paying them retrospectively than might exist in other cases. I cannot find any precedent for retrospective payment of benefits of this kind in previous National Insurance legislation, and it would be difficult to pick out the particular changes the hon. Gentleman has in mind for particularly favourable retrospective treatment.

I am aware of the point that the hon. Gentleman has in mind, and when we get to future entitlement rather than payment he will find that Schedule 3 contains a provision which is intended to benefit the widow whose child reaches the age of 19 between the time the Bill receives the Royal Assent and the appointed day. Therefore, a widow of this kind will qualify for a widow's pension paid from the appointed day if she reached her fiftieth birthday before the child became 19.

This is an arrangement exactly similar to that made in the Family Allowances and National Insurance Act, 1956, which was the only other occasion when the age limit which we are discussing today was changed. The effect is that the widow will not lose entitlement because of the time that is necessary after the Royal Assent to bring the Bill into operation. I am of the opinion that for the purpose of entitling the widow to this benefit it is reasonable that the Bill should go back as far as the Royal Assent, but no further.

To sum up, for the reasons that I have given it seems right that entitlement should run from the date of the Royal Assent, but I think that, in accordance with precedent, and because of the real difficulties that would be created by retrospection, the payment of the benefits should take effect from the appointed day.

Mr. Mitchison

I have listened to the right hon. Gentleman's statement with interest. The fact is that whether or not it was right to make this change before the Prime Minister's statement, it does not lie in the mouth of the Government to say that ever since that statement, morally at any rate, or administratively, or politically, or whatever general word one takes for the purpose, there has been a case for letting these people get the additional benefits they are now going to get.

The Minister is saying that it is not administratively practicable; that it would break the back of the Ministry; that it would, if I might refer to this beautiful phrase again, affect the whole structure and administration of the Ministry if we were to give effect to a moral case. I think that the right hon. Gentleman would admit that.

We on this side of the Committee do not accept that kind of thing so readily in view of what has happened about the very change that we have just been discussing, that is to say, the change from 18 to 19. We were told that that would break the back of the Ministry. That was impossible until the Government suddenly discovered that they were going to do it. If it is possible to do one thing after saying that it is impossible, we require a little persuasion to believe that something else is so impossible that even this elastic Government cannot manage to do it.

It may be that that is the case. This is not the kind of thing about which hon. Members really are in a position to say aye or nay. It is, therefore, not a matter on which I feel able to invite my hon. Friends to divide against the Clause which, so far as it goes, we otherwise support, but I regard it with suspicion.

When one talks about retrospective legislation, there is one case where one is constantly getting something of this sort. It is where a Government statement is made, usually in connection with tax evasion, and then legislative retrospection operates and nobody really objects to it. I should have thought that this kind of case—I do not say this particular one—merited a little extra effort. If the right hon. Gentleman says that it really is impossible, that he cannot do anything, we must accept it as a case where our legislative and administrative activities cannot keep pace with what we think to be right. If that is so, it is a confession of failure, and I suppose that one must accept it.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.