HL Deb 22 February 1966 vol 273 cc90-1

2.43 p.m.

LORD GRIDLEY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action is being taken in the case of 30 former members of Her Majesty's Oversea Civil Service now resident in Rhodesia whose pensions payable for service in Tanzania have not been paid by that Government since October, 1965.]

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS AND FOR THE COLONIES (LORD BESWICK):

My Lords, arrangements have been made to pay loan advances to these pensioners from United Kingdom funds.

LORD GRIDLEY

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for that reply, stating that the British Government have now resumed responsibility for the payment of pensions in Rhodesia where the Tanzanian Government is in default. At the same time, would it not have been better if the British Government had not stopped the payment of pensions originally, a fact to which we drew attention in our debates in December, because we then feared that it would be followed by independent Governments as in this case it appears to have been followed?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I think I ought to make it clear that the Tanzanian Government is not in default. It has been paying the pensions, although they have been paid into a blocked account. Moreover, it is not true that the change in the method of payment here started with the Rhodesian difficulty the change began before that time.

LORD OAKSHOTT

My Lords, can the noble Lord say something about the responsibilities of Her Majesty's Government for the payment of pensions of all the civil servants of the defunct Central Africa Federation, about which there have been difficulties in the last few days?

LORD BESWICK

My Lords I shall be glad to answer any Question which the noble Lord may care to put down on the Order Paper.