§ 11. Mr. Dribergasked the Minister of Works how many men employed in the Palace of Westminster as unestablished civil servants in the category of industrial workers are entitled to receive two weeks' wages on 1st January each year in lieu of the six months' full pay and six months' half-pay when sick to which they were entitled until 1st January, 1915; what is the average number of years that these men have been employed by his Department; and if he proposes now to put them on the establishment and to restore their former sickness benefits and pension rights.
§ The Minister of Works (Mr. Key)Eleven men employed by the Ministry of Works as industrial workers in the Palace of Westminster are paid compensation for the withdrawal of paid sick leave in accordance with a Statutory Order made in 1914. Their average service with the Department is forty-four years. As unestablished employees, they have not so far enjoyed pension rights, but eight of them will be eligible for consideration for establishment under a scheme recently agreed for Government Industrial Establishments. The agreed scheme makes no provision for paid sick leave.
§ Mr. DribergApart from these eight, could my right hon. Friend look sympathetically again at the case of these very few old men, who have been working as servants of this House for nearly half a century, and see if something can be done to give them some sort of pension?
§ Mr. ScollanWhat exactly are the qualifications for establishment?
§ Mr. Harold DaviesIs my right hon. Friend aware that many excellent servants of this House do their period of duty to this House and to the nation and then just pass like ships in the night, and the House never seems to give any recognition to the service which these people have given to it? I should like 8 my right hon. Friend to bear that in mind when old servants of this House retire.