HC Deb 17 May 1956 vol 552 cc2212-6
The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyd)

With the permission of the House, I will make a brief statement, as promised yesterday in reply to Questions by my hon. Friends the Members for Wycombe (Mr. John Hall), for Wavertree (Mr. Tilney), and for Essex, South-East (Mr. Braine), on Her Majesty's Oversea Civil Service. Details of the proposals will be published in a White Paper this afternoon.

First of all, looking to the future, 1 am glad to announce that Her Majesty's Government have decided in principle to establish a central pool of officers with exceptional administrative or professional qualifications who will be employed by Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and made available as required on secondment to oversea Governments. Plans for the establishment of this pool are being worked out.

This is not, however, by any means the whole problem. Meanwhile, an urgent staffing position has arisen in the territories which comprise the Federation of Nigeria. We have given special thought to this. We realise the anxieties and uncertainties which affect the services there and wish to help the Governments to keep experienced staff who might otherwise retire under compensation schemes.

We are, therefore, prepared to accept certain important obligations towards the existing staffs. We propose, subject to the agreement of the Nigerian Governments, to introduce a scheme by which existing expatriate pensionable officers can transfer on certain conditions to a Special List of Her Majesty's Oversea Civil Service. Officers who are admitted to the Special List will thenceforth be in the service of Her Majesty's Government and seconded to the local Governments. The main features of the scheme will be set forth in the White Paper.

The foregoing arrangements underline the high importance which Her Majesty's Government attach to the officers of the Nigerian services continuing to give their invaluable help to the countries they serve. The scheme will be in a form which will make it possible for similar arrangements to be applied to other territories as and when Her Majesty's Government are satisfied that circumstances make such action desirable.

Mr. Bevan

May I assure the right hon. Gentleman that we welcome his statement and look forward to an examination of the White Paper. Perhaps he will have a look at the arrangements which were made years ago between the Colonial Office and the Ministry of Health, by which very important improvements were made in the position of overseas doctors in the Colonial Service, whereby the pensions were made transferable and their service qualified for pension both here and abroad. We might extend that arrangement even more in this field.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I will certainly consider that.

Mr. Tilney

While all those on both sides of the House who believe not only that the Oversea Civil Service does a first-class job, but also in an expanding Commonwealth partnership, will congratulate my right hon. Friend on a most helpful statement, may 1 ask whether he can tell the House how soon the new central pool will be worked out and the numbers that are involved?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The central pool, which is the plan for future recruitment, will be set up as soon as possible. But it is a complicated technical exercise which cannot be completed in a few days or weeks. However, I can assure the House that we really mean business about it. As to the staffs now serving, that is a matter for negotiation with the Governments concerned. We intend to start this at the earliest possible moment. We have every intention of doing all we possibly can to give reality to the general undertakings which I have given.

Mr. H. Morrison

May I join with my right hon. Friend the Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. Bevan) in welcoming the Colonial Secretary's statement? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that members of the Oversea Civil Service have been actively helping forward movements towards self-government, knowing that they will imperil their own employment and that they have done it very loyally? I have felt sorry for some of those whom I have met overseas. I welcome the statement and hope that it may have material results. Could the Government have another word for "expatriates"? It sounds to me as though an expatriate were some sort of enemy alien.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

It is precisely because of those people of whom the right hon. Member spoke so generously, but quite appropriately, that this statement has been made today. As to expatriates, that is not the only reason why I regret the loss from the House of a former burgess of Oxford University. I will do my best to make up for his absence.

Mr. Braine

In view of the special emphasis which my right hon. Friend has put on the situation in Nigeria, can he say whether these new arrangements are likely to apply very soon to officers serving in Malaya and in those territories where constitutional developments are already arousing the anxieties of some officers?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

As I said in my statement, the scheme will be applicable to territories as and when Her Majesty's Government think it appropriate. I hope that my hon. Friend will await the White Paper which is being issued this afternoon, which will give a good deal more material on the matter.

Mr. Usborne

In regard to Nigeria, for instance, does the statement mean that virtually all the English—[HON. MEMBERS: "British "]—now serving there as civil servants, or as expatriates of this country, can now become established on this new United Kingdom list? If they cannot all do that, can the Colonial Secretary explain what categories are excluded?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

If the hon. Member will await the White Paper, he will see what I meant when I said, "in certain conditions", but it is certainly intended that the scheme should give assurance where it is most needed and also that the future, for which we are trustees, should be properly safeguarded.

Mr. N. Pannell

Can my right hon. Friend say which Governments will be responsible for the payment of salaries to the officers who transfer to the special list and what safeguards there will be for their pension rights?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The officers who transfer to the special list will be paid by the employment Governments, after our negotiations with them, at rates prescribed by Her Majesty's Government, after consultation with those Governments. As to safeguards for their pensions, Her Majesty's Government will pay the pensions and recover from the Governments in whose service the pensions were earned. Throughout my association and that of those whose experience goes back a good deal further than mine, I have had no reason to feel that any Government was likely to default on its obligations.

Mr. J. Johnson

Is the Colonial Secretary aware that the statement will be welcomed not only there, but by African leaders like Dr. Azikiwe, of Enugu, who were as perturbed as we were about the possible anxieties of their new advisers in that new and young society?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I am grateful for the underlining of the fact that this is something which will be equally welcomed here and in the territories concerned.