§ 2.57 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
The MINISTER of CIVIL AVIATION (Lord Pakenham)My Lords, this is a Bill of formidable and almost repulsive aspect, and perhaps the House will forgive me if I do not dwell upon it, to the general distress, too long. The purpose of the Bill, which is non-contentious, is twofold. It raises the salary of the Comptroller and Auditor-General, to keep step with the increased salaries paid to the permanent heads of other major Government Departments as a result of the recommendations of the Chorley Committee, and it tidies up the 527 provisions for the Comptroller and Auditor-General's pension.
May I take first the question of salaries? The House will recall that the salary of the permanent secretaries was recently increased from £3,500 to £4,500 a year. I take it that those members of your Lordships' House (and there are a good many), who have been Ministers will agree that they are not overpaid—if only for the duties they perform in keeping their Ministers straight. In order to effect the same arrangements for the Comptroller and Auditor-General as for permanent secretaries, the Bill provides that the increased rate of £4,500 shall in fact be payable as from October 1, 1950, but for purposes of pension calculation shall be deemed to have come into force on October 1, 1949. The latter arrangement flows from an undertaking given by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the postponement of the introduction of the Chorley scales should not prejudice the pension or superannuation benefits of retiring officers.
We then come to the second feature of the Bill—the superannuation provisions. Your Lordships will be aware of the constitutional arrangement under which the Comptroller and Auditor-General's salary is designed to secure his independence from the control of the Executive, and the House will agree that whatever form the pension for a Comptroller and Auditor-General takes, that also should be placed outside the control of the Executive. The Bill makes provision accordingly—that is to say. that the various alternative arrangements are still afforded as hitherto but, whichever arrangement is chosen, the pension will be payable directly from the Consolidated Fund, as distinct from voted money. Those, briefly, are the purposes of the Bill. If the House wishes to raise technical points, I will endeavour to answer them or seek information elsewhere. I hope that your Lordships will be ready to give the Bill a Second Reading.
§ Moved. That the Bill be now read 2a.— (Lord Pakenham.)
§ VISCOUNT SWINTONI observe that this Bill appears to be founded almost entirely upon the recommendations of the Committee presided over by the noble Lord, Lord Chorley, and I take no exception to the increases in salaries which 528 are afforded to these high officers in these times, when we all know that the cost of living is, of course, not rising. In view of the Motion which stands later in the Order Paper in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Chorley, may I ask whether the new regulations attaching to these high officers of State afford any facilities for euthanasia when they have attained or passed the superannuation age?
LORD PAKENHAMWhilst appreciating very readily the points made by the noble Viscount, I can say only that the noble Lord. Lord Chorley (who I presume is here and can speak for himself), seems anxious to take away with one hand what is given with the other.
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.