§ Mr. TOUCHEasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Treasury has recently sanctioned an allowance of £10 per annum to certain Customs officers for loss of overtime through having to give attendance of forty-eight hours weekly between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.; whether Customs second officers are liable to the same weekly attendance at any time during night or day; whether in all cases the £10 annual allowance formerly granted them for such irregular attendance and additional responsibility was deducted from the amounts of back pay due under the recent readjustments of salary; and whether, in view of the fact that many second officers in consideration of the £10 allowance sacrificed overtime emoluments in accepting the position, he will concede the full benefit of the retrospective application of the scheme without deduction of any portion of the allowance?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe allowance of £10 per annum formerly assigned to second officers is not analogous to the allowance of £10 per annum recommended by the Amalgamation Committee as compensation for the diminution of overtime earnings involved in the application of the new arrangements governing overtime pay. The latter allowance will be payable to all officers entitled to receive it, including those who were second officers, when the old arrangements are abolished. The nature of the old £10 allowance to second officers and the adjustments of their salaries are fully explained in the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Barrow on the 20th May last.