§ Sir I. Fraserasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how far the effect of the provisions of the Parliament (Elections and Meeting) Act, 1943, has been to divert the work of compiling registers from compilers who have undertaken this duty in the past; and if he will take steps to ensure that they are re-employed or compensated for the loss of regular, and in many cases long standing, work which carried fees and superannuation rights.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonSection 13 (3) of the Parliament (Elections and Meeting) Act provides that an electoral registration officer may delegate to a Town Clerk or Clerk to a District Council, in their capacity as "Proper Officers," electoral registration functions analogous to those which, under the Representation of the People Act, 1918, could have been delegated to a person designated by the local authority. The same section provides that the Council concerned shall supply the Proper Officer with such staff as he may require for the discharge of his duties under the Act. It will be open, therefore, to local authorities to provide Proper Officers with the services of persons who were previously designated officers in the work of sorting and arranging electoral material, and subsequently compiling electors' lists. Alternatively, it would be possible for an electoral registration officer or a Proper Officer to make independent arrangements with such persons if they were willing to act. I have drawn the attention of those concerned to the advantages of employing persons with this specialised knowledge. The superannuation position of persons who were previously designated officers is safeguarded by Section 2 of the Local Elections and Register of Electors (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1943, which in effect gives an option to such a person either to continue to pay superannuation contributions in respect of remuneration which they had received in the last standard year prior to the suspension of electoral registration in 1939, or on the amount of remuneration received in any year under the 1943 Act, if this is greater than the amount received in the standard year.