HC Deb 26 April 1910 vol 17 cc398-400

(1) Where a person appointed to the office of Development Commissioner or member of the Road Board with a salary is at the time of his appointment a Civil Servant within the meaning of the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1909, Section twelve of the Superannuation Act, 1859 (which relates to the retention of the right to superannuation on transfer to other employment) shall apply in like manner as if such office was public employment under the Crown and was a high office abroad conferred for a limited period within the meaning of that Section:

Provided that such part of any superannuation or other allowance or gratuity awarded by virtue of this Section as the Treasury may determine shall be paid out of the Department Fund or Road Improvement Grant, as the case may be.

(2) The Development Commissioners and the Road Board may, with the approval of the Treasury, make schemes providing for the grant of superannuation and other allowances or gratuities to or for the benefit of such officers employed by them as may be from time to time approved by the Treasury, and may out of the Development Fund and the Road Improvement Grant respectively pay to such officers on retirement or to their legal representatives on death such superannuation and other allowances or gratuities under the schemes as the Treasury may sanction in each case, and the Treasury may determine the Development Fund and the Road Improvement Grant to be public funds for the purposes of the Superannuation Act, 1892.

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

Lord BALCARRES

I wish to ask whether the Civil Servant who is to be appointed a Commissioner will remain a Civil Servant after the appointment? It is a very important question, as the Civil Servant directly after he becomes head of the Department cannot preserve, or even possess, that independence which the right hon. Gentleman told us last year was essential and imperative for the Chairman of this Commission.

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

After he passed on to the Development Commission he would cease to be a Civil Servant, and the real reason for this Clause is that he would lose his pension, and we could not get a Civil Servant of the kind we require without making an arrangement of this sort providing for a pension.

Lord BALCARRES

I am quite satisfied if this excludes him from the Civil Service.

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

Yes.

Clauses 3 and 4 agreed to.

Bill reported; as amended, to be considered this day.

Adjournment,—Resolved, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Fuller.]

Adjourned accordingly at Twenty-five minutes after Twelve o'clock midnight,