§ MR. LOUGH (Islington, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether there are seven officials in the Prisons Department who have served forty years and upwards, and who are over sixty years of age; and, if so, will special facilities be offered to induce their retirement, in view of the large number of juniors who are at the maximum of their class.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. WHITE RIDLEY, Lancashire, Blackpool)I have been asked by my right hon. friend the Secretary to the Treasury to answer this question. There are six, not seven, officers in the Prisons Department who have served forty years and upwards and are over sixty years of age. They will retire under the general rule on reaching sixty-five, and there appear to me to be no grounds for any action in the matter.