HC Deb 11 July 1956 vol 556 cc549-51
  1. (1) The Treasury may make rules for securing that, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as to proof of good health and other matters as may be specified in the rules,—
    1. (a) a Governor shall be allowed to surrender, as from the date of his retirement, and
    2. (b) a retired Governor under the age of seventy who has married since his retirement shall be allowed to surrender, as from the date of his marriage,
    in return for the benefits of the rules, such part of any pension granted or to be granted to him under the principal Act as, subject to the next following subsection, may be specified in the rules, and for enabling the Treasury to grant either to his spouse, or (unless the surrender was made under paragraph (b) of this subsection) to a dependant, a pension of such value as, according to tables to be prepared from time to time by the Government Actuary, is actuarially equivalent, at the date as from which the said part is surrendered, to the value of that part.
  2. (2) The part of a pension surrendered under the foregoing subsection (whether by virtue of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) or both) shall not exceed one-third or, where part of the pension is commuted under section four of this Act, one-third of the remainder.
  3. (3) Any pension under this section for the benefit of a dependant (not being the spouse) of a retired Governor shall be payable in respect of the period, if any, for which the dependant survives him, and any such pension for the benefit of the spouse shall, according as the Governor may, in conformity with the rules under this section elect, be payable either—
    1. (a) in respect of the period, if any, for which the spouse survives him, or
    2. (b) in respect both of the period of their joint lives (subsequent to the retirement or marriage), and of the period, if any, for which the spouse survives him,
    and the rules may provide that a pension payable thereunder in respect of the periods mentioned in paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be paid at one rate in respect of the first of those periods and at a higher rate in respect of the second.
  4. (4) For the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section four of the principal Act (which imposes a limit on the amount of a pension under that Act which a person in receipt of another Crown pension may receive) any part of a pension surrendered by a person in accordance with rules made under this section shall be treated as being received by him.
  5. (5) Rules under this section shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.—[Mr. Hare.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Mr. Hare

I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.

The Chairman

I think it would be for the convenience of the Committee if, together with this new Clause, we discussed the one in the name of the hon. Lady the Member for Devonport (Miss Vickers), entitled "Widows' pensions."

Mr. Hare

This new Clause provides for the allocation of part of a governor's pension and has been put down in order to meet, as far as we can, the proposal contained in the proposed new Clause standing in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Devonport (Miss Vickers), which we are also discussing. We have gone as far as we can, but to go as far as my hon. Friend's Clause suggests would, in the opinion of the Government, put us right out of line with existing pensions practice.

In the Civil Service there is no such thing as a pension for dependants provided wholly at the cost of the State, except where an officer has been killed in the execution of his duty. Most Governors who previously served in the Home or Oversea Service will have had an opportunity to provide for their wives by means either of Part I of the Superannuation Act, 1949, or by contribution to the Colonial Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Schemes in respect of territories in which they served. Under Clause 4 of the Bill, a Governor may commute up to a quarter of his pension, and the lump sum so obtained would be available for him to make provision for his wife if he so wished.

The new Clause which has been tabled by my right hon. Friend proposes that a Governor who is in receipt of a pension under the principal Act shall, if he wishes, allocate up to one-third of his pension to his wife or other dependants. In addition, it also provides that a retired Governor under the age of 70 may make an allocation from his pension if he is married after he retires. It is proposed that the rules to be made by the Treasury about the circumstances and conditions of the allocation shall be on the same lines as those made under Section (2) of the Superannuation Act, 1935, and Section (33) of the Superannuation Act, 1949, as regards allocation of pension by home Civil Servants.

If a Governor has taken his right of commuting part of his pension under Clause 4, and subsequently wishes to allocate from his pension, the amount he can allocate in that case is limited to a third of the remainder of his pension. I am sorry that I cannot accept what my hon. Friends suggested, but I hope they feel that in this Clause we have seen their point and gone as far as we can to accept it.

Miss Vickers

I should like to thank my right hon. Friend for his explanation of this long new Clause and for accepting my object in tabling my new Clause. I understand that Governors are excluded from joining the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Scheme in the Colonies in which they serve. But Governors can continue in a scheme if they joined before becoming Governors. Consequently, unless a Governor dies in harness, under the Bill his widow gets nothing whatever. That is my main reason in putting down my new Clause.

I should like to suggest, in respect of paragraph 3 (a) of my right hon. Friend's new Clause, that if we are proposing to use the word "spouse" in respect of a widow, perhaps we might also add "survives him or her", to cover perhaps women Governors in future.

Mr. Hare

I think I should make quite clear that although my hon. Friend is right in saying the Governor cannot contribute to a pension scheme in the territory in which he is serving as a Governor, he is allowed to continue contributing to a pension scheme in the territory in which he was previously serving. So he is covered. On the other suggestion, I will give that my consideration.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.