§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the sick leave which Civil servants were allowed was substantially reduced by an Order in Council issued in May 1905; if so, whether this was intended to apply only to new entrants or to the entire establishment; and, if the latter, whether it has always been the custom of the Treasury in making new regulations not to interfere with existing rights and privileges and conditions of employment.
(Answered by Mr. Hobhouse.) The Order in Council referred to only enlarged a class of cases of sick leave which had to be referred to the Treasury for decision. The provision applies to officers 1434 appointed before as well as to officers appointed after the date of the Order. No question of saving existing rights arises, because no Civil servant has a right to any specified amount of sick leave; the grant of sick leave (even within the limits laid down by Order in Council) being in the discretion of the head of a department.