§ LORD ROBERT MONTAGUsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Police Constables on duty at the Houses of Parliament have lately been raised from the Third Class of officers to the First Class; if so, whether the extra pay of First Class Constables, which was authorized by the Secretary of State has been paid to the House of Commons Police; whether their present remuneration (including the gratuity paid to them for their extra services) is not now as low as it was twenty years ago; whether a half of those Constables—who do duty at the Houses of Parliament during the Session, but receive no extra pay during the recess—will receive during the recess their pay on the First Class scale or on the Third Class scale; whether Police Constables receive an addition to their pay throughout the year for service at the various Government Offices; whether Constables who have contributed to the Extra Pension Fund have not, under the regulations of 1864, been deprived of the privilege of the Extra Pension Fund; and, whether the retiring pension of Constables of thirty years' standing will be calculated on the basis of a guinea a week, or on that of the pay of First Class Officers—namely, twenty-three shillings?
§ MR. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSENreplied that the police constables at the Houses of Parliament were promoted, as were other constables, by seniority, unless passed over for misconduct; they were all in the first or second classes as entitled by seniority, and received the pay of those classes—namely, first class, 23s.; second class, 22s, raised in each case by regulation of the Secretary of State to an uniform allowance of 28s. per week. Their pay was the same as was settled more than twenty years ago. It was higher pay than that of any other class, except three constables at the Stationery Office, and equal to a first-class Serjeant's pay. Those constables (about half) who do duty at the Houses of Parliament during the Session, but who receive no extra pay during the recess, then receive the ordinary pay of the class they were in. In a few instances police constables employed at the various Government Offices received additional pay, in the majority of instances they only received the ordinary pay of their class, and they were all paid by the respective departments. The constables who have contributed to the Extra Pension Fund had not, under the regulations of 1864, been deprived of the privilege of the Extra Pension Fund. All retiring pensions were calculated on the pay the constables received according to the classes they might be entitled to by seniority of service.