TEACHERS SUPERANNUATION (WAR SERVICE) BILL. (Hansard, 4 September 1939)

§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education (Mr. Kenneth Lindsay)
I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
This Bill is not unrelated to the previous Bills. Pensions to teachers are paid out of the Board's Vote. There is no superannuation fund. Teachers pay 5 per cent. of their salary, and the local authority pay 5 per cent. This is a Bill to enable teachers to count war service as if it were teaching service; in other words, to retain their pension privileges when undertaking war service. Where an employer makes up war pay equal to the teachers' salary, or where war service pay is equal to or exceeds the civil pay, the usual contributions will be paid. We expect that this will be the usual thing. The extra cost to the Exchequer will depend on the number of teachers undertaking war service who are not included in this category; in other words, those who are exempted from the payment of contributions. The various Clauses deal with special cases. Clause 2 deals with those in process of being trained at colleges. Clause 3 deals with teachers whose contributory service is interrupted by, for instance, service abroad. Clause 6 determines the reckoning of salary. Clause 8 applies to organisers, and Clause 9 to teachers in certain non-grant aided schools.

§ Mr. Lees-Smith
The purpose of the Bill is a very simple one. It provides that teachers who serve in the Forces shall not be penalised in their provision for old age. A similar Bill was passed during the War of 1914. It is an essential Bill and we accept it; indeed, we welcome it. Although the idea of the Bill is a simple one, it is in its working out fairly complicated and comprises a considerable number of Clauses. I should like to say, in connection with this Bill and the others with which we are being called upon to deal, that although we are here as an Opposition, we are dispensing with the work of the Committee stages. Therefore, while we are passing these Bills in this fashion, it will be understood that, 428 if experience shows that there are certain omissions which ought to have been rectified by Committee discussion, we shall be at liberty to bring the matter up at a later stage. I say that in connection with this and all the other Bills we are passing, and we shall not regard it as legitimate for it to be said to us that we agreed to them when they were in the House.

§ Mr. Ernest Evans
I should like to associate myself with what the right hon. Gentleman has said. It is difficult to understand the full implications of a Bill like this on a few hours notice, but I have no objection to it; on the contrary, I welcome it. It is a fair recognition of the position of the teachers, and at this moment, when we are appreciating what the teachers are doing, we gladly agree to the Bill.