§ Lords Amendment: In page 9, line 33, at end insert new Clause A:
§ (Meaning of 'period of war service' in 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 95.)
§ (1) For the purposes of the Teachers Superannuation (War Service) Act, 1939, a person's period of war service includes:
- (a) any period during which, though not actually engaged in war service, he is as a result of war service prevented or hindered from procuring work as a teacher; and
- (b) in the case of a person who, having been admitted or accepted for admission to a training college recognised by the Board of Education or the Minister for the purpose of payment of grant, undertakes war
2423 service before completing his course of training, any period during which, though not actually engaged in war Service, he is as a result of war service prevented or hindered from entering upon or completing his course of training;
Provided that a person's period of war service shall not, by virtue of this Subsection, be extended by a period or periods exceeding in all fifty-two weeks, or such greater number of weeks, not being more than one hundred and four, as the Minister may in any particular case allow.
§ (2) The provisions of the foregoing Subsection shall be deemed always to have had effect. and the definition of 'period of war service' contained in Section eleven of the Teachers Superannuation (War Service) Act, 1939, shall be deemed never to have had effect.
§ 1.6 p.m.
§ Mr. EdeI beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment"
Under Section II of the Teachers Superannuation (War Services) Act, 1939, a period of war service includes any period or periods not exceeding 12 months during which a person is, as a result of war service, prevented or hindered from procuring work as a teacher after coming out of war service owing to injury, illness, or any other cause due to his war service. This covers not only periods of disability but also periods of unemployment, provided they are due to war service. It is felt that similar treatment should properly be extended to a student who has been accepted for admission to a training college or had entered a training college and had completed part of his training before entering the Forces. Such a student may find it impossible, on coming out of the Forces, immediately to resume his training either because of the date on which his release falls or because he may for a period be physically disabled.
The Amendment proposes to extend to the training college student the same treatment as is accorded to the teacher who is similarly circumstanced. The proviso extends the period of 52 to 104 weeks in any particular case where the Minister may so allow. It is designed to cover the case of the ex-Serviceman teacher or teacher-training students whose injuries may be such as to prevent them from resuming teaching or training as the case may be for a period exceeding a year but not exceeding two years. This Amend- 2424 ment was asked for by the hon. and gallant Member for Lonsdale (Sir I. Fraser). It does what I am sure is an act of justice to a limited number of men now serving in the Forces who may come within the scope of the Amendment. I hope that the House will accept it.
§ Mr. Cove (Aberavon)I appreciate the virtues of this Amendment. I was hoping that it might have gone a bit further. Still, the Lords have improved upon the original proposals and we are grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for bringing it forward.
§ Question put, and agreed to. [Special Entry.]