§ Mr. MAURICE HEALYasked the President of the Board of Education on what grounds the Education Department have refused to treat service by an elementary teacher under the National Board in Ireland as recorded service for the purpose of the Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1898; whether the effect of this refusal is that a teacher who has just had 20 years' service, of which 10 were in Ireland, can get a disablement allowance of only about half the amount which a teacher is entitled to who has had 20 years' service in England, though both teachers have been contributing to the deferred annuity fund for the same period; whether it is open to the Department, in prescribing the public elementary schools, service in which counts as recorded service, to include Irish elementary schools; and whether, if so, this will be done?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe Board are advised that having regard to the terms used in Section 1 (5) of the Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1898, read in conjunction with Section 13 of that Act, it is not open to them to record service in elementary schools in Ireland. The second paragraph of the hon. Member's question appears to be based on a misapprehension. Payments to the deferred annuity fund constituted under the Teachers' Superannuation Act are only made in respect of recorded service, or of intervals not exceeding six months between employment in recorded service. Consequently a teacher who has had 20 years' service, of which 10 were in Ireland, would only have contributed for 10 years to the fund, while a teacher who has had 20 years' service in England would have contributed during the whole period. The disablement allowance in the latter case would be considerably greater, though not twice as much as in the former.