SUPERANNUATION AND RETIRED ALLOWANCES.

HC Deb 01 March 1938 vol 332 cc1058-60

Motion made, and Question proposed, That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £30,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1938, for Superannuation and other non-effective Annual Allowances, Additional Allowances and Gratuities under Sundry Statutes; Compassionate Allowances, Gratuities and Supplementary Pensions awarded by the Treasury and, under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, by the Civil Service Committee for Northern Ireland.

11.23 p.m.

Lieut.-Colonel Colville

The Treasury is required to pay automatically certain awards, pensions and gratuities as and when they become due. They are not sums susceptible of accurate actuarial calculation. It will be observed that, with the exception of Sub-head L (Northern Ireland—Pensions and Gratuities), the expenditure on which is recoverable from the Government of Northern Ireland, the additional sum required is in respect of single non-recurrent payments, which, as clearly stated in the original Estimate, cannot be predicted with accuracy. Taking Sub-head C, which mainly accounts for this Supplementary Estimate, the number and amount of the lump sums payable would cause little or no difficulty if every officer retired precisely at the age of 60, but as hon. Members know, officers may be retired on grounds of ill-health at any age, or they may be retained in the service for a period after 60, up to the age of 65. Moreover, the amount of the lump sum "additional allowances" may vary very greatly. Therefore, it is very difficult to budget this particular Sub-head accurately.

The main outstanding feature of this Sub-head is that there was a rapid growth in expenditure during the last six months of the preceding year, and that resulted in an excess on the Vote as a whole. That increased expenditure has been fully maintained during the current year. In a Vote which later I shall bring before the Committee, the point has been specifically referred to by the Public Accounts Committee. I am bringing in this Supplementary Estimate in order properly to cover ourselves in this matter, as the rate of expenditure shows no sign of diminishing under this Sub-head. That is the reason for the greater part of this Supplementary Estimate.

11.25 p.m.

Mr. Pethick-Lawrence

I am glad that the Financial Secretary is acting on the advice of the Public Accounts Committee in dealing with the matter in a constitutional manner, and as this was practically an automatic expenditure of money, I do not think the Committee need take any time in discussing it.

Resolved, That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £30,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1938, for Superannuation and other non-effective Annual Allowances, Additional Allowances and Gratuities under Sundry Statutes; Compassionate Allowances, Gratuities and Supplementary Pensions awarded by the Treasury and, under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, by the Civil Service Committee for Northern Ireland.