HC Deb 28 February 1957 vol 565 cc1387-9
37. Mr. Cronin

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if Her Majesty's Government will instruct the Anglo-Egyptian Resettlement Board to pay forthwith all former British pensioners of the Egyptian Government the full amount of their pensions from the date of cessation of payment by the Egyptian Government, and to continue such payments until settlement of the question of the Egyptian Government's contractual obligations as to pensions has been achieved.

57. Mr. E. Fletcher

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the former pensioners of the Egyptian Government have applied to the Anglo-Egyptian Resettlement Board for assistance; and whether arrangements can now be made for the full amount of arrears of such pensions to be paid by the Board.

Mr. R. A. Butler

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister stated on 5th February, the Board will be authorised to make advances as may be necessary to former pensioners of the Egyptian Government up to the full amount of the pension due, until arrangements are made for the Egyptian Government again to discharge its contractual obligations. Sixty-five former pensioners have already applied to the Board for assistance, and the Board is sending letters to all other former pensioners of whom it is aware.

Mr. Cronin

Will the right hon. Gentleman elaborate on the expression "up to the full amount"? Does he not realise that these unfortunate British pensioners have been deprived of their pensions by an act of most dubious legality by Her Majesty's Government, and that, therefore, there is a binding moral obligation on them to pay their pensions in full?

Mr. Butler

I think that is a term of art. Full discretion on the amount to be paid to any individual pensioner up to the full amount of the pension will be given to the Board, and I think that the hon. Member may feel that these arrangements are generous, pending the final settlement with the Egyptian Government.

Captain Duncan

May I ask my right hon. Friend whether the Treasury or the Board is exercising some form of means test, or is it expected that individual pensioners should exercise their own means test?

Mr. Butler

The Board is authorised to pay up to the full amount of the pension. For example, if the pensioners' needs require that they should have advances to cover the full amount unpaid by the Egyptian Government, the Board will be able to pay them.

Mr. Fletcher

is the Home Secretary aware that this position is very unsatisfactory, and that very many pensioners are not yet receiving anything? Will the Home Secretary make it clear that the pensioners may receive, regardless of need, the full amount of the pensions which have not been paid since the events concerned occurred?

Mr. Butler

It is as the hon. Member so shrewdly observed. The position is actually that the payments would start on 1st March, today being 28th February, and the payments will include arrears up to the 28th February, that is, today, where appropriate. We cannot go further than that.