MR. J. W. LOWTHER (Cumberland, Penrith)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether his attention has been called to the position, in respect of pensions, of Prison Officers who have been in the prison service for not less than 20 years, and, being not less than 60 years of age, have become incapable from age or infirmity, and have retired from the service; whether he is aware that, in most of the counties of England and in Cumberland in particular, such Officers entered the Prison Service upon the terms and conditions that upon retirement they were to receive two-thirds of their salaries by way of superannuation allowance, and that these terms and conditions were adhered to by the 454 County Authorities so long as the prisons were under their control, and pensions paid upon the two-thirds scale; whether he is aware that The Prisons Act, 1877, provided that existing Officers should hold their offices by the same tenure and upon like terms and conditions as if the Act had not passed; whether the Treasury now decline to recognise the claim of such Prison Officers to a superannuation allowance at the rate of two-thirds of their salaries; and, why Prison Officers retiring at the present time are placed in a worse position than those who retired before The Prisons Act, 1877, came into force, although the conditions are similar?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir J. T. HIBBERT)The reply to the first question is Yes. The County Authorities had discretionary power under Statute to award a pension not exceeding two-thirds of the salary after 20 years' service, but the Government are not aware that County Authorities were bound to give the maximum pension in each case. Under the Prisons Act of 1877, this discretion passed to the Treasury, who have exercised it precisely as in the case of all other permanent Civil Servants. The right to be pensioned subject to this discretion was retained to Prisons Officers, in common with all their other rights. It is still open to the Local Authorities under whom the Officers served before 1877, to make up from local funds the maximum of two-thirds in each case. The Treasury do not admit the claim of the Officers to the maximum in every case. What I have stated already answers my hon. Friend's fifth question.