§ Mr. CROOKSasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that for 50 years prior to the passage of the National Insurance Act, 1911, all employés in the Royal Arsenal were entitled to sickness benefit; that after the passing of the Act this benefit ceased; and whether he can explain the reason for so altering the conditions of employment in the Arsenal?
§ Sir A. WILLIAMSONThe alterations in the sick pay regulations at the Royal Arsenal made when the Insurance Act came into force were based upon the recommendations of an Inter-Departmental Committee that dealt with the question as affecting the Government service as a whole. It is not the case that the preexisting benefits at the Arsenal were entirely abolished. As my right hon. Friend may recollect, the vested privileges of the existing employés were in the main preserved by adjustment of the old sick pay, and the new benefits under the Act and the changes made were, generally speaking, accompanied by an upward revision of wages to compensate for the reduced value of the departmental privileges.