Mr. T. THOMSONasked the President President of the Board of Education whether serious hardship will be inflicted on a large number of teachers in secondary schools by the ruling of his Board that service in schools which have been transferred to local education authorities by means of sale will not count for pension under the School Teachers' Superannuation Act, 1918; whether, before making that ruling, he had satisfied himself that the terms of all such sales provided for adequate compensation to the teachers in lieu of their loss of pension rights for such service; and, if not, why service prior to transfer should count in the one case and not in the other if the teacher received no benefit from such sale?
§ Mr. FISHERI may refer the hon. Member to the answer given yesterday to the hon. and gallant Member for the Moss Side Division of Manchester (Lieut.-Colonel Hurst). I do not consider that any hardship is involved by refusal to recognise service in a particular school which is not entitled to recognition under the Act. As regards the second part of the question, it seems to me irrelevant for the purpose of the Act to inquire whether the teachers concerned had any pension rights apart from the Act, or whether they were compensated for their extinction.