POLICE PENSIONS (AMENDMENT) (No. 3) REGULATIONS, 1964 (Hansard, 28 July 1964)

§ LORD DERWENT
My Lords, I beg to move that the Police Pensions (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations, 1964, a draft of which was laid before your Lordships' House on July 16, be approved. The Regulations amend the Police Pensions Regulations, 1962. Your Lordships will recollect that approval was given on July 7 to amendments to these Regulations contained in the Police Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 1964. The No. 2 Regulations related to four matters: the pension arrangements for inspectors of constabulary; the commutation of part of a pension for a lump sum; the allocation of part of a pension in favour of a dependant, and the provision of a gratuity for the widow or dependants of a policeman who dies as the result of a murderous attack. The No. 3 Regulations now before your Lordships have the effect of replacing this last provision relating to a gratuity by a new provision.
I am aware that your Lordships felt some reservation about the scope of the earlier provision, and I endeavoured to explain that its effect would be to pro- 968 vide a gratuity to the widow of a policeman whose case has been distinguishable, and has been distinguished in the past, from those of other widows of other men who face danger and death in carrying out their duties including the hazards of police service. I explained that my right honorable friend the Home Secretary recognised also the claims of other widows and their need for a lump sum of money in the suddenly changed circumstances of widowhood, and that he had proposed that the provisions of the police pensions arrangements should be reviewed in comparison with the pensions arrangements of other services which provide lump sum payments in addition to a pension. Following your Lordships' approval of the No. 2 Regulations, the provision relating to the payment of a gratuity was the subject of debate in another place, and the Home Secretary undertook to lay before Parliament further draft amending regulations extending the circumstances in which a gratuity would be payable to the widow of a policeman. The further amending regulations are contained in these draft No. 3 Regulations.
Draft Regulation 1 inserts the new provision to replace the provision to which I have referred. It provides (like the former provision) that, where a policeman dies as the result of an attack, the widow shall be entitled to a gratuity, of an amount equal to twice the annual maximum pay of a constable, in addition to the special rate of pension which the principal regulations already provide. It also provides (and this is additional to the former provision) for the payment of a widow's pension at the special rate and of the same gratuity where a member of a police force, although not attacked, dies on or after August 1 next as a result of an injury received in performing duties for the immediate purpose of effecting an arrest or preventing an escape or rescue from custody. The entitlement of dependent children contained in the No. 2 Amendment Regulations will extend to the children of a member of a police force who dies in any of these circumstances: that is, the gratuity that would have been payable to a widow will be payable in equal shares to a policeman's children if he does not leave a widow or, in the case of a policewoman, if she was the children's only surviving 969 parent. Draft Regulation 2 consequentially deletes from the Police Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations Regulation 8, which is now superseded by Regulation 1 of these present Regulations.
Draft Regulation 4 provides that the amending regulations shall come into operation on August 1 next. The Police Councils for England and Wales and for Scotland have been consulted and agree with the terms of the draft Regulations. I beg to move.

§ LORD STONHAM
My Lords, we warmly welcome the Government's second thoughts on this matter. As the noble, Lord, Lord Derwent, said on July 7 when we approved this Order, we did so with considerable misgivings, which were expressed by my noble friend Lord Silkin and myself. This, of course, illustrates one of the difficulties we are always in with an Order of this kind, which we cannot possibly amend and can only either approve or reject. No one, of course, wished to reject a measure which would have improved the pensions position of police, their widows and dependants, but we felt that the Government's proposals in the original Order which we were asked to approve were inadequate.
I appreciate the difficulties in which the Home Secretary found himself then, in that he had not then been able to secure the agreement of the Police Federation to an agreed form of words. Paragraph 12A(b), which is now included in the Order is, I understand, the form of words which has been agreed with the Police Federation and is, therefore, wholly satisfactory. It means that dependants will benefit if a policeman dies either immediately or subsequently, not only as a result of an attack but in the course of the performance of his duties. This is exactly what we wanted.
The only minor point—I hope it is a minor point—is that we should have hoped that this provision would come into operation immediately on the Order's being passed by the House, and would not have to wait until August 1. 970 We can only hope fervently that no fatal accident befalls a policeman in the execution of his duties before August 1. Apart from that, we wholly approve this Order and are grateful for the Government's second thoughts.

§ LORD DERWENT
My Lords, I think I must correct the noble Lord on one point, because in what he said there was a slip of the tongue. Compensation does not arise for death from injury received in the performance of any duty. I hope the noble Lord realises that. I must repeat the actual words, in order that this is fully understood: whose death is the result of an injury received…in the course of duties performed…for the immediate purpose of effecting an arrest or of preventing an escape or rescue from legal custody… Those are the terms of the Order. I am grateful to the noble Lord for what he said.