SUPERANNUATION (DIPLOMATIC SERVICE) BILL. (Hansard, 12 February 1929)

§ LORD CUSHENDUN
My Lords, you may consider this Bill somewhat belated. It is a corollary of the amalgamation in 1910 of the Foreign Office service and the diplomatic service. The reason for the delay in bringing it forward is largely that a considerable time elapsed before the anomaly regarding the pensionable status of the various officers, caused by the amalgamation, was appreciated, The diplomatic service is, and was, pensionable under an Act dating as far back as 1869. Foreign Office officers are, and were, members of the Civil Service, and come under the Superannuation Acts. The object of this Bill is to effect a unified pension system by bringing all alike under the Superannuation Acts, in common with the rest of the Civil Service. I do not anticipate that any of your Lordships will object to this Bill and I do not propose to go at any greater length into the reasons for its introduction. Your Lordships will easily understand that a great many anomalies have occurred owing to the two services becoming one while their officers remained pensionable under different conditions and on a different basis. I think that the proposal to simplify and unify the system of pensioning is one which will commend itself to your Lordships, and I therefore ask the House to give this Bill a Second Reading.

§ LORD OLIVIER
My Lords, the principles of this Bill, which I have read with some care, seem to be entirely reasonable and proper, and the rectification of the position of these diplomatic officers is a step with which I am entirely in sympathy. Consequently we shall offer no opposition to this Bill. I should like to know if the noble Lord can tell us whether any of the clauses of this Bill are really within the competence of this House to decide upon.

§ LORD CUSHENDUN
My Lords, the Bill is certified as a Money Bill, and the noble Lord knows the powers and limitations of this House quite as well as, or better than, I do.