§ Mr. TOUCHEasked what provision is made in respect of policemen who are Navy or Army Reservists and are killed or injured in war; if they are injured do they receive the pension they would be entitled to if injured in police service, and if killed is provision made by the police authorities for their dependants; and, if not, is it under consideration to revise these conditions?
§ Mr. McKENNAUnder the Police Reservists (Allowances) Act as amended by the Police Constables (Naval and Military Service) Act police authorities are empowered to supplement the Army pension given to a policeman called up as a Reservist if he is injured, or to his dependants if he is killed, by 50 per cent. of the Army pension, up to the amount of the total pension which might have been granted to the officer if he had been injured in the execution of police duty.
§ Mr. TOUCHEasked the Home Secretary if he will consider and take steps to remedy the hardships caused by the present distinctions of treatment of policemen serving with the Colours who are Army or Navy Reservists as regards pay in addition to Army or Navy allowances, the married men receiving full police pay, if the authorities think fit, less the amount of their allowance, unmarried men with dependants 8s. a week, plus the allowance, the combined sum being considerably less than their ordinary pay in the force, and unmarried police Reservists receiving nothing; is he aware that the allowance of 8s. a week to unmarried men 229W with dependants is often quite inadequate, as in the case of Constable Harland, lost on the "Aboukir," who had as dependants a mother and crippled sister; that unmarried men who, by re-enlisting, surrender a considerable sum weekly, suffer from a sense of injustice, especially if they have marriage in prospect; and are any changes in the present regulations under consideration?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe allowances payable from police funds under the Police Reservists (Allowances) Act as amended by the Police Constables (Naval and Military Service) Act are granted for the benefit of the soldier's wife and children, or, in the case of an unmarried man, his dependants, and not by way of increase of his pay, and they are additional in every case to the allowances payable from the Army funds. Reservists who were serving in a police force at the time of mobilisation have other advantages not possessed by ordinary Reservists—for example, their service in the Army or Navy will be reckoned towards their police pension on their rejoining the force, and the police authorities may supplement from police funds the allowances payable from Army funds in the event of their being injured or killed during their naval or military service. I do not think I could propose any further legislation on the subject.