§ 70. Sir David Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Mrs. White of Streatham has been refused a gratuity for her services with the Metropolitan Police, which amounted in total to 16 years including continuous service from 27th April, 1936, to 16th January, 1949, which was brought to an end by illness caused by war service and day and night shifts of up to 16 hours on end.
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Ede)The superannuation conditions for civilians employed in connection with the Metropolitan Police follow the corresponding conditions for civil servants under the Superannuation Acts. The rules which apply to the granting of compassionate gratuities to unestablished staff who retire for reasons of ill-health do not allow Mrs. White's earlier periods of service to be reckoned, and her last period of service is less than the qualifying period of 15 years prescribed by law for the grant of a gratuity.
§ Sir D. RobertsonWhy is the Home Secretary relying on a departmental code of rules issued 14 years ago? Did that code envisage the kind of service Mrs. White gave during the war and for which she suffered?
§ Sir D. RobertsonSince the war broke out in 1939, the right hon. Gentleman has been endowed with boundless powers and he could give this lady a gratuity for 15 years' service but, because it was not wholly continuous service, he stands on the rule written by a civil servant 14 years ago?
§ Sir D. RobertsonWhy not change them?