HC Deb 04 March 1920 vol 126 cc679-80W
Sir P. MAGNUS

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he will issue a complete list of the different kinds of qualifying service which, since the passing of The School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1918, have been declared as such by the Treasury; whether teachers and others who have rendered qualifying service are in all cases required to have served for at least 10 years in a grant-aided school or to have given 10 years' service in some other form of recognised service, as defined in the Act, in order to be eligible for a pension; and whether each application to the Board for a pension has to be considered on its merits, with a view to ascertaining whether it comes within the Clauses of the Act or can be recommended as a fresh form of qualifying service?

Mr. FISHER

Statements have already been issued to' the Press as to service which has been declared to be qualifying service, but I will issue a complete list. The answer to the second and last parts of the question are in the affirmative.

Sir R. COOPER

asked the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to the position of Thomas Turner, of the Finchley County School, in regard to the School Teachers' (Superannuation) Act; whether Mr. Turner enlisted in 1914, being placed in category Al, was wounded in 1917 and again in 1918, and was demobilised in 1919, with the Military Cross, after 4½ years' service, being placed on demobilisation in category C1, and is at present stated to be ineligible for death benefit under the Act; whether there are any other teachers at the same school who were exempted from military service on account of their category being C3; whether any of those men are now eligible for death benefit under the Act; and whether his attention has been called to other similar acts of injustice under the provisions of the Act?

Mr. FISHER

My attention has been called to the case of Mr. Thomas Turner. He has not been declared ineligible for a death gratuity, but he has been informed that, in order to consider the question of his eligibility, the Board require to be furnished with a medical certificate.