§ Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked the President of the Board of Education whether the regulations dealing with the retirement of members of the staff of the Education Department, which were issued on 6th June, 1898, were signed by the then secretary and approved by the Lord President, but were not headed as confidential, and were therefore of a public character; whether supplementary regulations of a more drastic kind, with an explanatory memorandum, both headed as confidential, and signed by the present secretary, and not bearing on the face of them the approval of the President of the Board, were issued on 4th December, 1909; and 565 whether, seeing that the effect of that proceeding is that the decision of the Parliamentary head was modified by the secretary and secrecy secured for the modification, he will make the regulations of 4th December, 1909, public, so that intending entrants to the Civil Service and their friends and the general public may know the conditions attached to service under the Crown?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Runciman)The regulations of 1898 were issued in the manner indicated in the question; but I am not aware that they were ever published. Copies of them were given, so far as I am aware, only to officers of the Board. Further regulations, which were expressly foreshadowed in the Regulations of 1898, were issued by my direction on the 4th December, 1909. These regulations were accompanied by an explanatory memorandum. Both documents were marked "confidential," to indicate that they were intended for the information only of officers of the Board, whom alone they concerned. My purpose in issuing the regulations and memorandum at that date was to assist officers of the Board in deciding whether they should accept the new scheme of pensions offered by the Act of 1909 to existing Civil Servants. The conditions of service under the Crown are set out in the Orders of Council, which are public documents. It is under the Orders in Council, and not by virtue of any regulation of the Board of Education that officers are retired. Under the Orders in Council every officer is liable to be called upon to retire at the age of sixty on such pension as by the length of his service he is qualified to receive. The Rules of the Board call attention to the effect of the Orders in Council, and add that in ordinary circumstances no officer will be retained in the Service after he is eligible for his full pension. Candidates for appointment are informed on application of the effect of the Orders in Council, and a copy of the Board's Regulations is given to every officer on his appointment.