§ Colonel ASHLEYasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether a deduction of 10 per cent, or any other amount is being made by Government offices from the Civil Service emoluments of retired officers in their employment who have received or are receiving retired pay or pensions in respect of past services as officers in His Majesty's forces, in view of the fact that legislation was passed in August of this year absolving a Government Department from this legal obligation when the Treasury had made the necessary Order?
§ Mr. BALDWINI am sorry to find that it has taken longer than was expected to frame the new Rules under the Retired Officers (Civil Employment) Act, 1919, and that in consequence some Depart1642W ments are still continuing, in the absence of formal Treasury instructions, to make the deduction as before. As stated in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Shankhill on the 10th instant, it is the intention of the Government that the deduction shall be abolished with effect from the date of the passing of the Act, and that any sums which have been deducted in the interval shall be refunded to the officers. But in the meanwhile I am causing provisional instructions to be issued at once to all Departments for the immediate discontinuance of the deduction in the case of all officers in receipt of retired pay for past service in His Majesty's forces.