HC Deb 21 July 1965 vol 716 cc1678-80

(1) An employee shall not be entitled to a redundancy payment if on the relevant date he is outside Great Britain, unless under his contract of employment he ordinarily worked in Great Britain.

(2) An employee who under his contract of employment ordinarily works outside Great Britain shall not be entitled to a redundancy payment unless on the relevant date he is in Great Britain in acordance with instructions given to him by his employer.

(3) Subject to the following provisions of this section, in computing, in relation to an employee, the period specified in section 8(1) of this Act, or the period specified in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to this Act, a week of employment shall not count if—

  1. (a) the employee was employed outside Great Britain during the whole or part of that week, and
  2. (b) no employer's contribution in respect of him was paid in respect of the corresponding contribution week,
unless an employer's contribution in respect of him was payable (though not in fact paid) in respect of the corresponding contribution week.

(4) For the purposes of the application of the last preceding subsection to a week of employment where the corresponding contribution week began before 5th July 1948, an employer's contribution shall be treated as payable as mentioned in that subsection if such a contribution would have been so payable if the statutory provisions relating to national insurance which were in force on 5th July 1948 had been in force in that contribution week.

(5) Where by virtue of subsection (3) of this section a week of employment does not count in computing such a period as is mentioned in that subsection, the continuity of that period shall not be broken by reason only that that week of employment does not count in computing that period.

(6) Any question arising under this section whether an employer's contribution was paid, or was or would have been payable, as mentioned in subsection (3) or subsection (4) of this section, shall be determined by the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance; and the provisions of the National Insurance Act 1946 and any regulations made thereunder as to the determination of questions which under that Act or any such regulations that Minister is empowered to determine (including any such provisions as to the reference of questions for decision, or appeals, to the High Court or the Court of Session) shall apply to the determination of any question by that Minister under this section.

(7) The provisions of this section shall have effect subject to section 20 of his Act in cases to which that section applies.

(8) In this section "employer's contribution" has the same meaning as in the National Insurance Act 1946, "week of employment" means a week ending with Saturday, and "corresponding contribution week", in relation to a week of employment, means a contribution week (within the meaning of the National Insurance Act 1946) of which so much as falls within the period beginning with midnight between Sunday and Monday and ending with Saturday also falls within that week of employment.—[Mr. Thornton.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Mr. Thornton

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

It might be for the convenience of the House, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, if we took with this new Clause Amendments Nos. 15 and 45. They are both consequential on the new Clause.

Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Sir Samuel Storey)

If the House so pleases.

Mr. Thornton

We had a very long debate in Committee on this complicated problem of service overseas, and the right hon. Member for Grantham (Mr. Godber) and his colleagues opposite suggested that we should consider linking it with the insurance principle. We have accepted that principle in the main in the new Clause. Payments in the case of service overseas will be related to years for which Class 1 National Insurance contributions were paid or ought to have been paid, in effect, these provisions will mean, generally, that only the first year of service overseas will count, but non-reckonable years of service overseas will not break continuity. But we insist that employees who normally work overseas must return to this country at the request of the employer to terminate the contract. A person who normally works in the United Kingdom can have his contract terminated anywhere and still be eligible for the payment.

8.30 p.m.

Mr. Ronald Bell

We are grateful to the hon. Gentleman for moving the new Clause which, as he will recognise, satisfies very largely the points which we made in Committee when, not in any unduly critical spirit, we pointed to the difficulties of the scheme which was in the Bill as it originally appeared. It seemed to us that a system which was based upon insurable weeks, as they are defined in the National Insurance legislation, would have many advantages. It would, almost automatically, solve some of the most difficult problems which the original system faced, and we are glad that after consideration the Government have come to the same conclusion and have embodied it in the new Clause, which is an undoubted improvement to the Bill.

I must not move outside the confines of the new Clause but a thought that goes through our minds is how much better the country would be governed if on so many matters the Government would take their views from the Opposition and carry them into effect in the way that the Parliamentary Secretary has so wisely and skilfully done in his new Clause, which I therefore commend to my hon. Friends.

Question put and agreed to.

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