HC Deb 14 May 1956 vol 552 cc1788-9

Lords Amendment: In page 8, line 39. after "areas" to insert "in respect of certain service".

Mr. H. Brooke

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

This, and the next two Amendments, raise a different point, but one on which I trust the House will be all the more willing to waive Privilege when I mention that it was brought to the attention before the Bill left this House. My hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Mr. Peyton), in a speech on Third Reading, drew attention to the possibility that certain Indian pensioners might be excluded from the operation of the Bill rather unfairly. Clearly, at that stage, it was not possible to do anything about it here, but I gave an undertaking that the Government would examine the position. It was as a result of that that the Amendments were agreed to in another place.

The point at issue is this. Previously, under the Bill as it left this House, it would have been possible for two men to have retired on the same date, and yet for one of them to have been entitled to pensions increase since he was deemed to have retired because of the transfer of power in India, whereas the other would not have been entitled to pensions increase because he had been able to complete a full career and could not, therefore, establish the fact that he had retired because of the transfer of power. In the circumstances, both those men would have the same basic pension. They would have been equally affected by the fall in the value of money, which is the cause and origin of the Bill, yet they would have been treated unequally.

This Amendment, and the two which follow which are linked with it, will remove that anomaly. I trust that they, too, will be regarded as an improvement to the Bill.

Mr. Glenvil Hall

The right hon. Gentleman has, as usual, put the points in favour of these Amendments with the utmost clarity. Attention was drawn to the presence of this anomaly during the passage of the Bill through this House. and I am very glad that the Government have seen their way to inserting in the Bill provision for this class of pensioner, which, though not large is very deserving.

Question put and agreed to.

Subsequent Lords Amendments agreed to: In line 46, at end insert: after the figures '1947 ' there shall be inserted the words ' or which was rendered by a person who, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, was at the date when the service began, being a date before the said fifteenth day of August, domiciled outside Asia'; and In page 9, line 3, at end insert: and after the figures '1947' there shall be added the words ' or which was rendered by a person who, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, was at the date when the service began, being a date before the said fourth day of January, domiciled outside Asia'.