§ Sir H. NIELDasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state what is the basis of calculation on which retiring allowances to Civil servants are now granted and how such grants differ in relation to pre-war grants to officers of the same or similar grade; are Civil servants at present compulsorily retired upon reaching the prescribed age; if so, are they awarded retiring allowances on the same basis as in pre-war time, notwithstanding that the commercial value of such basis is now only half what it was before the War; and, in view of the present inadequacy of the pre-war scale, whether he will consider the desirability of arranging that such Civil servants as are capable of continuing to perform their duties should be retained until such time as the cost of living should be restored to such limits as will enable them to live on their retiring allowances and not have to exist on conditions of semi-starvation while wages in every branch of employment are supplemented by war bonuses?
§ Mr. BALDWINThe basis of civil pension is the same as it was before the War, namely, a percentage, as fixed by Statute,1588W of the pensionable pay and emolumnets of each officer. As regards the age of retirement, heads of Departments have full discretion, under the Order in Council of 10th January, 1910, to call upon any officer to retire at sixty; but in August, 1915, the Treasury drew attention to the desirability of extending the retiring age during the War, and it has freely exercised its powers of extending employment beyond sixty-five. If the hon. Member desires to criticise the exercise in certain Departments of the discretionary powers under the Order in Council, he will perhaps address his inquiry to the head of the particular Department or Departments concerned.