§ Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, with 1441W reference to paragraph 11 (b) of Schedule I. of the National Insurance Act, he can now state if persons in civil employment under the Crown with wages below £160 per annum, who can be granted sick leave within a maximum of six months on full pay and six months on half-pay, will be exempt from the necessity of becoming assured persons under the provisions of the Act?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI would refer the hon. Member to the first Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Employment under the Crown as affected by the National Insurance Act, Cd. 6234. It is proposed that the employment of all male established Civil servants who are allowed sick leave on the terms quoted in the question shall be excepted from the operation of Part I. of the Act. The second Report of the Interdepartmental Committee, which will deal principally with women employed in established capacities under the Crown, will be published in a few days.
§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the Secretary to the Treasury if, where a Civil servant is appointed to a post under the National Insurance Act where the minimum salary is lower than he is now receiving, he will begin at the minimum salary of the post to which he is appointed or at the higher salary he is now receiving?
§ Mr. MASTERMANIt is contemplated that in the circumstances mentioned in the question commencing salaries in excess of the minimum of the scale should be allowed. The precise point in the new scale at which a transferred officer will be allowed to enter it will depend upon the qualifications of the individual and the general rules of the public service governing transfers from the class which he is leaving to that which he is entering. It will, of course, be open to any officer to whom a transfer is offered to decline the offer if he does not regard is as sufficiently attractive.