§ Mr. GINNELLasked what is the number of national school teachers who have left the service since 1900 without any pension; the number who left with pensions reduced from the scale to which they were entitled; the number of present pensions that are less than £26 a year; and whether there is any prospect of ex-teachers whose records are good being given pensions according to scale?
§ Mr. WEDGWOOD BENNThe number of teachers who have left the service since 1900 without pension is 5,204, of whom 2,286 have been subsequently reappointed. All teachers have received 1746 the scale of pension to which they were entitled, but some were not qualified by age for superannuation, and in 909 cases owing to early retirement less than the maximum pension was payable. Nine hundred and fifty-eight teachers now receive pensions of less than £26 a year. Ex-teachers who have retired without being qualified for full pension can qualify by obtaining re-employment.
§ Mr. GINNELLWill the hon. Gentleman give a reference to the scale upon which they are paid these pensions of less than £26 a year?
§ Mr. WEDGWOOD BENNI have a copy of the scale here and shall be very glad to give it to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary if he is now in a position to state the result of the consideration he has been so long giving to the salaries and pensions of of Irish national school teachers; whether the rule of the Commissioners of National, Education promising increase of salary on promotion from a lower to a higher grade is still in force; from how many teachers has this increase been withheld for some time after promotion; from how many promoted teachers is it now withheld; how much money has been saved in this way; whether a saving is made at the expense of any other class of public servants by breach of a rule under which they are employed; and whether the character of the work and the scale of pay and pension warrant this difference of treatment?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTH (Lord of the Treasury)As regards teachers' pensions, I would refer to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Secretary to the Treasury to a question asked by the hon. Member for West Kerry on the 14th instant. There has been no recent alteration in the Rules with regard to the promotion of teachers. The numbers in each grade are fixed and forty-three teachers are still awaiting vacancies in higher grades before they become entitled to increased salaries. It is not correct to speak of a saving being thus effected. All public servants, so far as I am aware, have to wait for vacancies before obtaining promotion.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the amount of the minimum pension actually being paid to an ex-school teacher in Ireland; the amount of the pension being paid in the case, Roll No. 11,788, Circuit 14; and the scale or method of calculation by which, these pensions have been fixed?
§ Mr. WEDGWOOD BENNThe lowest pension actually paid at the present time is a disablement pension of £2 16s. awarded together with an immediate grant of £18 4s. to a teacher of the third grade who retired from ill-health at the age of thirty-seven after twelve years' service. In the case mentioned by the hon. Member the pension was commuted in 1906, the teacher receiving in all £101. Disablement grants are calculated according to No. 10 of the Rules framed in 1897, under the National School Teachers (Ireland) Act, 1879, and Table C in the First Part of the First Schedule thereto. They consist of an immediate payment equal to the amount of the teacher's contributions up to date with compound interest, together with a pension based on the amount of such contributions.