HC Deb 10 May 1950 vol 475 cc67-9W
82. Sir J. Mellor

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why officers, members and personal representatives, within the meaning of paragraph 28 of the Schedule to the Fire Services (Ranks and Conditions of Service) (No. 2) Regulations, 1950, have been assessed to Income Tax upon supplementary allowances and compensatory grants therein defined; whether grants received upon the authority of the said paragraph by way of reimbursement of Income Tax have been, or will be, assessed to Income Tax; and why taxes are levied which fire authorities are required by the said Regulations to reimburse.

Mr. Jay

The supplementary allowances and compensatory grants payable to members of fire brigades under previous Regulations were income within the meaning of the Income Tax Acts and were accordingly taken into account in computing the Income Tax liabilities of the recipients. The Regulations referred to have abolished the supplementary allowances and provide for the termination of the compensatory grants after next year except in the case of Chief Officers and

Section came into operation to 31st March, 1950.

Assistant Chief Officers. In so far as the allowances and grants continue to be paid, they will be liable to Income Tax as before.

83. Sir J. Mellor

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will explain the circumstances which necessitated the provisions, relating to Income Tax, of paragraph 28 of the Schedule to the Fire Services (Ranks and Conditions of Service) (No. 2) Regulations, 1950.

Mr. de Freitas

The Schedule to which the hon. Member refers amends and consolidates the Fourth Schedule to the Fire Services (Hanks and Conditions of Service) Regulations, 1948, and the paragraph in question re-enacts an earlier provision which gave effect to an award of the Industrial Court. The purpose of compensatory grant is to put firemen who are not provided with free quarters and who receive allowances in respect of rent in the same position as regards Income Tax as those who are provided with free quarters and are not liable to tax on the value of the quarters. In consequence of a fresh award of the Industrial Court providing for consolidated rates of pay to replace the former supplementary allowances, paragraph 28 provides for the termination of compensatory grant with the payment due next year for all ranks below Assistant Chief Officer. Chief Officers and Assistant Chief Officers continue to receive rent allowances and compensatory grant.

STUDENTS ADMITTED TO PERMANENT TRAINING COLLEGES IN THE YEARS STATED
Year MEN Two-Year Training Colleges Two-Year Training Colleges WOMEN Three-Year Housecraft Training Courses Total Women Total Men and Women
Recognised Students* Others Total Men
1938 1,182 6 1,188 3,450 462 3,912 5,100
1946 1,573 254 1,827 5,263 543 5,806 7,633
1947 103 2,061 2,164 5,211 546 5,757 7,921
1948 121 2,135 2,256 6,115 510 6,625 8,881
1949 873 1,593 2,466 7,250 703 7,953 10,491
1950 Not yet available 2,250 7,800 750 8,550 10,800
(estimated)
* i.e., with grants under the Training of Teachers Grant Regulations.

It is not possible to divide the numbers of men exactly between ex-Service men and ex-National Service men, but the table shows separately the number of men admitted with grants under the Training of Teachers Grant Regulations, and the number whose courses at permanent training colleges have been financed in other ways. Since the war practically all the men whose courses at these colleges have not been aided under the Training of Teachers Grant Regulations have been men who were entitled to awards under the Further Education and Training Scheme in virtue of wartime service of one kind or another. Since 1947 no man student has been able to begin a course of training unless he has done his National Service or is exempt from service. It can therefore be assumed that most of the men admitted in 1949 with grants under the Training of Teachers Grant Regulations were ex-National Service men.

Over the period 1945–50 the number of students admitted to Emergency Training Colleges was close on 36,800, of whom nearly 24,000 were men and some 12,800 women. All these men and women were engaged in some form of National Service during the war years.