HC Deb 14 November 1918 vol 110 cc3080-2

(1) Paragraph (6) of the First Schedule to the Police Act, 1890, as amended by any subsequent enactment, shall have effect as if the amounts of pension specified in Section one of this Act were substituted for the amounts of pension specified in that paragraph, and in Sub-section (3) of Section two of that Act the words "within twelve month" shall be repealed.

(2) Where the widow is one to whom a pension or gratuity may be granted under Section two of the Police Act, 1890, the police authority shall not grant her both a pension or gratuity under that Section and a pension under this Act.

(3) A pension payable to a widow under this Act or under Section two of the Police Act, 1890, shall, if at any time she re-marries, be suspended, but in the event of her again becoming a widow shall be restored on proof to the satisfaction of the police authority that her circumstinces are such that the pension is necessary for her support, and that she is of good character and deserving of bounty from public funds, and accordingly in paragraph (9) of the First Schedule to that Act the words "remains a widow," and shall be repealed, and that paragraph as so amended shall apply to pensions payable under this Act.

Sir G. HEWART

I beg to move, in Sub-section (1), to leave out the words "as amended by any subsequent enactment."

The effect of this Amendment is not in any way to [...]niter the substance of what is proposed. It is to remove a mere ambiguity which might otherwise arise from the mode of expression.

Amendment agreed to.

Sir G. HEWART

I beg to move, in Sub-section (2), to leave out the word "both" ["grant her both"].

Mr. A. WILLIAMS

Cannot we have some explanation of this? This seems a complicated case where the widow is entitled either to a gratuity or to a pension of 10s. a week, if I understand it aright. What I want to be assured of is that the widow shall have the right to choose the one which is more advantageous to her, and that whether she has the one or the other shall not be decided by some outside authority.

Sir G. HEWART

My right hon. Friend is quite right. Under the Sub-section as it is proposed to be amended the widow will have the choice of taking that which is more to her advantage. Under the Police Act of 1890 there is a discretionary provision. Under this Bill, when it becomes an Act, there will be a certain automatic allowance if it remains. What is provided here, if the Amendment is adopted, is that the whole pension may be granted under Sub-section 2. The police authority shall not grant her a pension or gratuity under the Section of the earlier Act unless it be in lieu of a pension under this Act. In other words, she may take that which is better for her.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendment made: In Subsection (2), leave out the word "and" ["that Section and a pension"], and insert instead thereof the words, unless she accepts the same in lieu of.

[Sir G. Hewart.]

Sir G. HEWART

I beg to move, at the end, to insert (4) Sub-section (2) of Section fifteen of the Police Act, 1890, shall, in England and Wales, subject to the necessary modifications, extend to a pension payable whether under that Act or under this Act to the widow of a constable who has served in more than one police force. This is a purely ministerial Amendment to provide that Sub-section (2) of Section 15 of the Police Act, 1890, shall in England and Wales, subject to the necessary modifications, extend to a pension payable under the Act or under this Act to the widow of a constable who has served in more than one police force. That Amendment goes back to what was said just now by one of the speakers regarding the case of a constable who has served first in one county and then in another. This is a mere provision for the apportionment in such a case of pension payments.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 3 (Repeal of Limitation on pensions payable to Constables Appointed to Offices Remunerated out of Public Fund) ordered to stand part of the Bill.