HC Deb 13 August 1913 vol 56 cc2515-7W
Mr. PIKE PEASE

asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether any suggestion has been made for reducing, in the case of future appointments, the scale of salary of minor staff clerks in the Board of Education; if so, whether he will state by whom the suggestion was made; whether it is proposed that the duties of these officers, or any of them, should in 'future be performed by second division clerks on the scale of salary of £200 to £300; and whether sanction to any such proposals will be withheld until the Royal Commission on the Civil Service has reported?

Mr. MASTERMAN

The Treasury is in correspondence with the Board of Education on the subject, and I am not at present in a position to make a statement as to the decision reached.

Mr. CHARLES DUNCAN

asked the President of the Board of Education the names of the last five junior examiners promoted to the post of senior examiner in the Board of Education, the dates of the minutes promoting them, and the dates from which the promotions took effect; and if he will give such instructions as will secure that vacancies in the grades of minor staff clerk and staff clerk shall in the future be filled up with the same celerity as are the vacancies in the higher staff of his Department

Mr. J. A. PEASE

The names and dates asked for are as follows:—

Names. Date of Minute of Promotion. Date from which Promotion took Effect.
L. J. Morison 20th Jan., 1917 1st Feb., 1912
C. E. Sykes 11thApril,1913 11th Dec., 1912
R. R. Campbell 11th Apri1, 1913 19th Feb., 1913
R. E. S. Hart 3rd May, 1913 25th Apri1, 1913
H. E. Fass 3rd May, 1913 12th May, 1913

So far as the action of my Department is concerned, there has been no avoidable delay in filling any vacancies in the grades of staff clerk or minor staff clerk.

Mr. GOLDSTONE

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the operation of Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, under which the examiners of his Department are appointed, is restricted to persons of an age exceeding that at which public service usually begins; whether, although the public service may be entered by the Class I. examination at the age of twenty-four, at least twelve examiners of the age of twenty-three or twenty-four have been appointed since 1st April, 1900; if so, what justification is there for using the Act to appoint men who do not satisfy its provisions; and whether he will take the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown as to the legality of such appointments?

Mr. PEASE

I do not think that, on a correct interpretation of the question, a Department which has been brought within its operation by the Treasury is precluded from appointing to the class of officers named in the Treasury Warrant some persons who are not above the age at which the public service usually begins. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. I see no reason for consulting the Law Officers on the matter.

Mr. GOLDSTONE

asked the President of the Board of Education whether Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, under which examiners are appointed, provides for the addition of years of service for pension purposes in the case of certain posts; whether all the junior examiners appointed since 1st January, 1902, have received such an addition of years; and, if not, what necessity or justification is there for appointing as examiners men who were clearly not contemplated by the terms of the Statute governing their appointments?

Mr. PEASE

One of the provisions of the Section cited is as stated in the first part of the question. The answer to the second part is in the negative; the practice varied before 1905, but since the 1st September, 1905, the practice, approved by the Treasury, has been that persons appointed to examinerships from outside the public service receive an addition of five years for pension, less one year for each year by which their age on appointment falls short of thirty-five. Under this practice no examiner appointed at the age of thirty or less can receive an addition of years for pension; the inference suggested in the last part of the question cannot, therefore, be drawn.