§ Sir F. FLANNERYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the 2229W officers of His Majesty's Customs and Excise are now allowed to estimate their retiring allowances on the average of salaries received during the last two years' service; whether teachers under the Superannuation Act which came into force in April, 1919, are compelled to estimate their pensions upon the average of salaries of the last five years of their service; whether this latter custom is compulsory under the Act; and whether he will consider the possibility of altering the system of calculating the retiring pensions of teachers so as to conform to that customary with officers of His Majesty's Customs and Excise?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe retiring allowances of pensionable officers of the Board of Customs and Excise are assessed in accordance with Section 12 of the Superannuation Act, 1834. As regards the second and third parts of the question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the definition of the expression "average salary" in Section 18 of the School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1918. In view of the liberality of the provisions of that Act, particularly as regards discontinuity of service and qualifying service, I see no ground for its amendment in the direction suggested.
§ Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEasked the President of the Board of Education whether school teachers who obtained special leave of absence without salary and took service in offices of Government Departments during the War are liable to suffer in their ultimate pension after superannuation; and what steps are proposed to enable teachers to obtain the full pension to which they would have been entitled had they not undertaken War service?
§ Mr. FISHERThe Board have no power to treat service other than service in the Forces or service in connection with naval or military operations as teaching service for the purposes of the School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1918. It does not appear to be possible to treat the service referred to as falling within the latter category.