HL Deb 09 March 1971 vol 316 cc1-3
LORD BESWICK

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

The rates of mileage allowances payable to persons who are authorised to use their private cars on official business are as follows:—
(a) Trainee probation officers:
As for civil servants—see (c) below.
(b) Probation officers:
Motor cars with an engine capacity of
501–99 c.c. 1,000–1,199 c.c. 1,200–1,699 c.c.
Essential user
Lump sum £81 £90 §102
First 7,200 miles a year (per mile) 2.8p 3.2p 3.6p
Over 7,200 miles a year (per mile) 1.7p 1.9p 2.2p
Casual user
Per mile 5.3p 5.9p 6.7p

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government at what mileage rate is reimbursement made for the use of private cars for:

  1. (a) trainee probation officers;
  2. (b) probation officers; and
  3. (c) civil servants.]

THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (LORD WINDLESHAM)

My Lords, trainee probation officers receive allowances at the same rate as civil servants, while car allowances for probation officers are in accordance with a scale recommended by the Joint Negotiating Committee for the probation Service. I will, with permission, circulate a table showing the details of both scales in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the table referred to:

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I am most obliged to the noble Lord for the Answer he has given, and particularly obliged for his courtesy in letting me have a copy of what he proposes to have published. I shall need to study it, especially as it is in a currency with which I am unfamiliar. May I ask the noble Lord, first, how long ago this scale was agreed upon and whether any negotiations are currently proceeding?

LORD WINDLESHAM

My Lords, the current rates were introduced with effect from October 1, 1970. I speak subject to correction, but I am not aware that any negotiations are taking place on car allowances, although on the subject of the next Question I shall have more to say.

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, as I say, I shall need to study this table. At first sight, although I am absolutely certain the noble Lord is giving me the truth, I am not sure that he is giving me the whole truth.

LORD WELLS-PESTELL

My Lords, if I understood the noble Lord correctly, he said that the allowance for car mileage for trainee probation officers is the same as for civil servants. He then went on to say that the allowance for probation officers seems to be determined by the probation committee. Does that imply that a local probation authority can pay a trainee probation officer whatever they think or do they lay down a scale which happens to be, as he said, the scale applying to civil servants?

LORD WINDLESHAM

My Lords, I am sure that all noble Lords will want to study the table. What I said was that the scale for probation officers was recommended by the Joint Negotiating Committee for the Probation Service, which is a body on which both the probation officers and the employers are represented. The trainee probation officers come under the Home Office and are paid now on a salary basis by the Home Office. While they are undergoing training, if they are entitled to claim car allowances they do so at the Civil Service rate.

Back to