House of Commons Members' Fund (Hansard, 4 March 1994)

§ Mr. Alfred Morris (Manchester, Wythenshawe)
I beg to move, That, in pursuance of the provisions of section 3 of the House of Commons Members' Fund Act 1948 and of section 2 of the House of Commons Members' Fund and Parliamentary Pensions Act 1981, the maximum annual amounts of the periodical payments which may be made out of the House of Commons Members' Fund under the House of Commons Members' Fund Act 1939, as amended, and the annual rate of any payments made under section 1 of the said Act of 1981 shall be varied as from 1st April 1994, as follows: (a) for paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the said Act of 1939, as amended, there shall be substituted the following paragraph: '1. The annual amount of any periodical payment made to any person by virtue of his past membership of the House of Commons shall not exceed £3,554 or such sum as, in the opinion of the Trustees, will bring his income up to £6,561 per annum, whichever is the less: Provided that if, having regard to length of service and need, the Trustees think fit, they may make a larger payment not exceeding £6,842 or such sum as, in their opinion, will bring his income up to £9,849 per annum, whichever is the less': (b) for paragraph 2 of that Schedule there shall be substituted the following paragraph: '2. The annual amount of any periodical payment to any person by virtue of her being a widow of a past Member of the House of Commons shall not exceed £2,221 or such sum as, in the opinion of the Trustees, will bring her income up to £5,228 per annum, whichever is the less: Provided that if, having regard to her husband's length of service or to her need, the Trustees think fit, they may make a larger payment not exceeding £4,277 or such sum as, in the opinion of the Trustees, will bring her income up to £7,284 per annum, whichever is the less': (c) in paragraph 2A of that Schedule for the words 'the annual amount of any periodical payment' to the end of the paragraph, there shall be substituted the words: 'the annual amount of any periodical payment made to any such widower shall not exceed £2,221 or such sum as, in the opinion of the Trustees, will bring his income up to £5,228 per annum, whichever is the less: Provided that if, having regard to his wife's length of service or to his need, the Trustees think fit, they may make a larger payment not exceeding £4,277 or such sum as, in the opinion of the Trustees, will bring his income up to £7,284 per annum, whichever is the less': (d) in section 2(1) of the said Act of 1981, for the words from the beginning to the end of the paragraph (b) there shall be substituted the words: 'the annual rate of any payments under section 1 shall be—

(a) £2,070 if the payments are made to a past Member; and

(b) £1,294 if the payments are made to the widow or widower of a past Member'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
I understand that with this, it will be convenient to discuss the following motion: That the whole or any part of the sums deducted or set aside in the current year from the salaries of Members of Parliament under section 1 of the House of Commons Members' Fund Act 1939, and the whole or any part of the contribution determined by the Treasury for the current year under section 1 of the House of Commons Members' Fund Act 1957, as amended by the House of Commons Members' Fund and the Parliamentary Pensions Act 1981, be appropriated for the purposes of section 4 of the House of Commons Members' Fund Act 1948, as amended by section 12 of the Parliamentary Pensions etc. Act 1984, and section 7 of the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991.

§ Mr. Morris
The motions on the Order Paper are tabled in the names of right hon. and hon. Members on both sides 1253 of the Chamber who share with me the responsibility, as Managing Trustees, of administering the House of Commons Members' Fund.
There are two motions to consider. The first provides for an increase in the present levels of all grants and payments which may be made under the Members' Fund legislation. These were last revised by approval of the motions I brought to the House in April 1993. We now propose to increase the grants and payments with effect from 1 April 1994 by 1.8 per cent., which is in line with the increases approved for public service and state retirement pensions.
The main beneficiaries of the first motion are elderly former Members or their surviving spouses, the majority of whom, unlike present Members of the House, are not entitled to the benefits available from the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund. Many of them are now over 80 years of age and some are in their nineties.
The changes for which we seek approval can be briefly stated. Subparagraph (a) deals with the provisions for grants to ex-Members who served in the House for 10 years and whose income is below defined limits. It is proposed to increase the basic annual grant to £3,554, subject to an income limit including the grant of £6,561. In the case of ex-Members with longer service, the grant may be increased to a maximum of £6,842, subject to an income limit of £9,849 per annum.
The widows and widowers of these ex-Members are covered by subparagraphs (b) and (c) of the motion. It is proposed to increase their basic annual grant to £2,221, subject to an income limit including the grant of £5,228. Similarly in the case of widows and widowers of ex-Members who had longer service, the grant may be increased to a maximum of £4,277, subject to an income limit of £7,284.
Subparagraph (d) refers to the "as of right" payments from the Members' Fund to ex-Members who had 10 years service before October 1964, and to their widows and widowers. Their awards are not subject to any income limits and we propose to increase these annual payments to £2,070 for ex-Members and £1,294 for widows and widowers.
Under the terms of the governing legislation, the House of Commons may by resolution direct that, in any year, the whole or any part of the amount contributed by Members from their salaries shall be appropriated, together with the whole or any part of the Treasury contribution, currently £215,000, for the purpose of providing funds for the trustees to make discretionary awards to ex-Members and their dependants, having regard to their individual circumstances. The second motion gives effect to this appropriation and will enable the trustees to continue discretionary awards to ex-Members and their dependants.
I am most appreciative of the help of right hon. and hon. Members who have brought, and continue to bring, to the attention of the Managing Trustees information on the needs of former Members and their dependants. I hope very much that this will continue. The cause of helping elderly former colleagues now living in straitened circumstances is worth while and the help we receive about their needs is invaluable to the Managing Trustees in making best use of the resources available to us.
I am sure the motions will have the support of all right hon. and hon. Members, and commend them to the House.
1254 Finally, I wish again most warmly to thank Tony Lewis, Alan Marskell, Michael Fletcher, Neil Crawley and their colleagues in the Fees Office for all the skill and humane concern with which they help those whom the fund exists to serve. As Chairman of the Managing Trustees, I see at first hand the commitment with which they work, week by week, in the service of former parliamentarians, their widows and other dependants, who now need the support we can provide. They deserve the gratitude of the whole House.

§ Mr. Tom Cox (Tooting)
I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) and other parliamentary colleagues whose names are listed on the Order Paper for the hours of work that they put into acting as trustees of the House of Commons Members' fund. I fully agree with my right hon. Friend's comments and I am sure that his proposals will be supported unanimously. I join him in his thanks to and appreciation of members of the Fees Office. I am sure that all of us are aware that when we have problems, the Fees Office is always extremely helpful. It has certainly been helpful for many years in seeking to help ex-Members who, sadly, have run into difficult times. It is only right on an occasion such as this to pay the warmest tribute to those who work in the Fees Office and especially to Mr. Lewis who, I understand, will shortly be retiring. Knowing him, I am sure that it will be an active retirement. He has been most helpful to all of us.
My hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Mr. Powell) and I are members of the parliamentary Labour party benevolent fund. We know from the cases with which we deal of ex-Members, many of them very elderly—80 or 90 as my right hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe said —who were Members of Parliament when salaries were very low. Many of them have passed on and their elderly widows receive very little. The small amounts that the parliamentary Labour party pays in grants makes an enormous difference.
Some months ago, I had a meeting with my right hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe who, as always, was extremely helpful and who took the matter up. This is not a party political issue. I pay the warmest tribute to the Leader of the House, who has always been as helpful as any Minister can be and I hope that the Minister will pass my comments on to him.
I should like to put two specific questions to my right hon. Friend and I shall do so because sometimes it is extremely helpful when matters are put on the record. First, how many discretionary awards are made under the House of Commons Members Fund Act 1939 and the House of Commons Members Fund Act 1948 and how many as-of-right payments are being made under the House of Commons Members Fund and Parliamentary Pensions Act 1981?
I join my right hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe in expressing our warmest and deepest thanks to hon. Members and our friends in the Fees Office for all their time and effort on this important issue.

§ Sir Peter Emery (Honiton)
I think it right that a Conservative Member should compliment the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) on 1255 the way in which he has chaired the Committee, the work of which is conducted on an all-party basis. Conservative Members wish to support the measure as keenly as anybody. We are grateful to the Fees Office, on which much of the work falls. I pay a special tribute to the right hon. Member for Wythenshawe for the work that he does as Chairman, in which he gives the lead.

§ Mr. Alfred Morris
I am most grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox) and to the right hon. Member for Honiton (Sir P. Emery), both of whom take a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of their former colleagues. That was made very clear in their interventions.
The right hon. Member for Horsham (Sir P. Hordern), among other Conservative Members, is one of the Managing Trustees of the House of Commons Members' Fund. He plays, as do his colleagues, a very important part in our work.
To answer my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting, the number of recipients of grants at the present time under the 1939 Act, as amended—I refer to discretionary grants—is nine. Two of those go to ex-Members and seven to widows. Under the 1948 Act, to which my hon. Friend also referred, there are 140 discretionary awards, so that gives a total of 149. He also asked me about the number of recipients of payments as-of-right at the present time under the 1981 Act. The answer is 76.