HC Deb 05 April 1962 vol 657 cc621-3
13. Mr. K. Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations in how many of the nine cases in which he gives financial aid to Commonwealth countries, it is a condition of that aid that pensions to expatriate officers should be maintained reasonably in line with the increased cost of living in the United Kingdom

Mr. Braine

Whilst the attitude of other Commonwealth Governments to the pensions of their former expatriate officials is one of the matters which we take into account in OUT general financial relations with them, it is not our practice to make our financial aid conditional in the way suggested.

Mr. Lewis

Yes, but will my hon. Friend point out to those countries which are not fulfilling their duty to those who have served them in the past that this should not be entirely a one-way traffic? Further, will he agree that if those countries want more and more experts to go to them they would get a better response from new applicants if they looked after the people who have spent their lives in those countries and served them well?

Mr. Braine

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend's first point, that aid should not be a one-way traffic; but nor, in my experience, is it. As regards my hon. Friend's second point, I think one can agree with the general proposition. Naturally, it is up to overseas countries to offer experts attractive conditions, but I must say that most of them do so. I understand that some have in fact increased their pensions to their former civil servants above the United Kingdom level, although this is not altogether general.

Mr. Tilney

May I ask my hon. Friend to appreciate that if it is the Treasury argument that poor and developing Asian and African countries are responsible for putting right rises in the cost of living in the United Kingdom—which is an argument I do not accept—surely we are therefore left with the sanction of the purse as the only means of putting the position of those pensioners right?

Mr. Braine

I do not accept that for one moment. I did indicate earlier that the Government fully understand the anxiety of hon. Members about this matter, and it is a matter which we are at present studying.

Sir P. Agnew

Does not the reply of my hon. Friend show that some entirely fresh rethinking on the part of the Government is necessary, in that these servants, our own kith and kin, entered into service at a time when Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom were in control, broadly speaking, of their terms of service? They should not be let down afterwards.

Mr. Braine

The circumstances have changed, and I think the situation calls for some rethinking.

Mr. Grimond

In addition to the reasons about which we have already heard, is it not quite clear that we are all committed to help these countries? There are few more useful ways of helping them than by making it possible for them to recruit new people because they have behaved well to those who have worked for them in the past. Is not the solution for the United Kingdom Government to take responsibility for the people for whom they were originally responsible?

Mr. Braine

This problem is not as easy to solve as the right hon. Gentleman thinks. There are a great many considerations here before Her Majesty's Government can take over responsibilities which other Commonwealth countries are perfectly willing to accept, and, in fact, are carrying out. The problem is not as easy as that. There are these other considerations, and in the altered circumstances Her Majesty's Government are taking them very much into account.