§ Mr. T. P. O'CONNORasked the President of the Board of Education whether it is the intention of the Government to reduce the salaries of the elementary teachers who have rendered service in Ireland or the Colonies on 1st April next by disregarding services rendered in schools outside Great Britain; whether teachers are not to be allowed to count service rendered outside England towards their pensions; and whether, to avoid injustice to teachers whose actual service, both as regards standard and term of 557W years, entitles them to the benefits of the salaries and pensions schemes, he will reconsider the matter?
Mr. WOODThe hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The Burnham Committee have never recommended to the Board for the purposes of Section 9 of their Report the acceptance of service in Ireland or in the Dominions and Colonies for the calculation of increments under the standard scales. The Board have acted upon the recommendations of the Committee in the interpretation of that Section, and no variation in their practice will take place on the 1st April next. With regard to the second part of the question, service outside England and Wales could not be treated as recognised service for the purposes of the School Teachers (Superannuation) Acts without amending legislation. The whole question of equivalence of service in different. parts of the Empire is to be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of the Imperial Education Conference.