AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH ETC. (PENSIONS) BILL (Hansard, 14 February 1961)

§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE (VISCOUNT HAILSHAM)

My Lords, I hope that this Bill will prove useful, short and uncontroversial. I hope also that your Lordships will allow me to take the opportunity, in moving the Second Reading of this Bill, to pay a small tribute to the debt which agriculture owes to the work of the Agricultural Research Council, which, since its establishment in 1931, has widened its activities and has, I think, a beneficial and far-reaching influence at the present time. Like the other Research Councils for which I am responsible, it is manned largely by those whose work there is a public service, and in particular I should like to mention the work of the noble Duke, the Duke of Northumberland, the present Chairman, and also his predecessor, the noble Lord, Lord Rothschild, who for several years was a great help to us in the chair of the Agricultural Research Council.

My Lords, the Bill is needed for technical reasons. It seeks to enable the Council, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Agriculture to make contributory unfunded superannuation schemes for the staffs of the agricultural institutions, and agricultural colleges in Scotland, which are financed wholly or mainly by those authorities.

The background to the Bill is. briefly, as follows. Until 1953 the pension arrangements of the Federated Superannuation System for Universities, which, I am sorry to say, is known, like many other bodies, by its initials—" F.S.S.U.", were applied equally to the Civil Service scientist and to the agricultural research scientist, under an arrangement by which the conditions of service recommended by the Barlow Report of 1945 on the Scientific Civil Service were also applied to the staffs of the State-supported agricultural research institutes.

In 1953, large numbers of F.S.S.U. civil servants (if I may use the phrase) were permitted to exchange their cover under the F.S.S.U., providing benefits re- 720 lating to contributions throughout the member's career, for the pension provisions applying to the Civil Service generally under the Superannuation Acts, where benefits are related to salary on retirement. I think it can be debated which of the two systems is better in present conditions, but for some time now we have been under pressure from the staffs of the various agricultural institutes, and particularly those financed or grant-aided by the Agricultural Research Council, who felt that something on the lines of the Superannuation Acts would be more suitable for their particular case. In particular, there has been pressure for pensions arrangements to be extended to industrial staffs, as in the case of the Civil Service and other public bodies.

This Bill is designed to enable us to effect these changes. It will enable us to make satisfactory pension arrangements without the complications involved in setting up separate pensions funds. Moreover, unless employees' contributions to an unfounded scheme or schemes are actually required under the terms of a Public General Statute, the employees would be deprived of their tax relief on their pension contributions, under Section 378 of the Income Tax Act, 1952, which applies only where the superannuation benefits are payable in pursuance of a Public General Act of Parliament, and the persons participating in the scheme are required by the Act to pay contributions. The Bill achieves this by one of its subsections.

The Scottish agricultural colleges have been included because, apart from their teaching functions, the colleges are responsible for the general and specialist advisory service to farmers in Scotland. It was desirable that the college staffs, as well as the research institute staffs, should have parity, as nearly as possible, with their Civil Service counterparts in matters of conditions of service, and the present superannuation conditions of college staffs there are similar, I am told, to those of the staffs of the research institutes.

Looking rapidly through the clauses, I think that what I have said explains the purpose of Clause 1, and subsection (1) includes the enabling power. So far as the Agricultural Research Council is concerned, the institutions referred to are both institutes and units set up and 721 directly controlled by the Council and independent agricultural research institutes which, in the opinion of the Council, are wholly or mainly maintaintd by grants from them. So far as the Secretary of State for Scotland is concerned, they are grant-aided agricultural research institutes, and Scottish agricultural colleges which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, are wholly or mainly maintained by grants from him. The final words refer to the income tax point to which I have referred. I do not think I need refer in detail to subsection (2).

With regard to subsection (3) I should say this. It provides: Nothing in this section shall prejudice any power conferred by the Council's charter as for the time being in force, or any pension scheme made under such a power. We made that qualification to safeguard the Council's authority to continue to provide, where desired, for the payment of pensions under existing schemes. It is the intention of the Council and of the two agricultural departments to give existing staff the option of remaining under their present arrangement or of joining the new scheme; but once a new scheme has been made, it will be compulsory for subsequent new entrants. Clause 2 is formal in its entirety. My Lords, with that explanation. I hope the House will give a Second Reading to this small but, I hope, useful measure. I beg to move.

§ LORD WISE

My Lords, I wish, first of all, to say how much I appreciate the quiet and orderly manner in which the noble Viscount has introduced this Bill. I seem to prefer him in the afternoon rather than the evening. At any rate, I appreciate what he has said, and he has explained the Rill fully. I think he is right, too, in paying a tribute to the Chairman of the Agricultural Research Council, because anything that any council or committee can do to assist agriculture must be for the benefit of the 722 country. I also appreciate his words as regards the background of the Bill.

I had it in mind, when reading the Bill, that there might have been some sort of negotiations in the past between the employees of the various bodies and those in authority, and I think this Bill sets out what must have been agreed between those particular parties. There is one point in the Bill which, in my view, is a very good feature, and it is that consultation will take place between the authorities and the employees before schemes are initiated. Joint consultation of that sort must be to the advantage of those who are to be given pensions, gratuities, or the like. The Bill had, I noticed, a very easy passage in another place. It was discussed late at night, though perhaps not so late as certain business last night, and within a matter of a few minutes was passed through the House. But that does not make it any less important as a Bill; therefore I think we must welcome it in this House and hope that it will soon be put into operation.

I notice that it provides pensions not only for industrial employees but also for non-industrial employees. So far as the numbers who will benefit by the Bill are concerned, it appears to me that there are about 6,000 employees, of whom two-thirds will be non-industrial and one-third industrial. The Bill provides for payment of contributions by the employees, and it also provides, I believe, that the Agricultural Research Council will not lose any money by the payment of these pensions; any expenditure on the part of the Council will be refunded to them, so that the other work of the Council will not be lessened in any way. We on this side of the House commend this Bill, and we wish it well.