I move that the Bill be now read aSecond Time. This Bill, as Deputies will have seen for themselves, is a rather long and, in many respects, a complicated one. An effort has been made, in the explanatory memorandum which accompanied it, to explain its principal provisions as simply as possible, and I myself will now do my best to go into the provisions and the considerations underlying them in the fullest possible detail consistent with a Second Reading statement. Many of the sections are in the nature of what is known as legislation by reference— that is, they are built up by reference to sections of previous Acts. That, unfortunately, is unavoidable, because if a full recitation of the previous provisions were resorted to, it would make the Bill considerably longer and I do not think it would necessarily make it easier for the House to deal with it. If, however, any information is desired about any of the sections, additional to that contained in the explanatory memorandum and that which I now propose to furnish in this statement, I shall be glad to give a more detailed explanation of any such sections at Committee Stage.
The Bill is divided into a number of parts. As indicated in the explanatory memorandum, there is no particular need to comment on Part I, which contains the usual provisions regarding interpretation. Part II deals with proposed enhanced allowances, in certain cases, for the relatives of deceased persons who had pre-truce service; Part III provides for increases generally in the pensions and allowances payable under the Army Pensions Acts; Part IV effects an alteration in the present statutory dates of marriage in relation to eligibility for married pensions and widows' and children's allowances under the Acts; Part V introduces a number of alterations with regard to the general system of, and the rates of, special allowances, and Part VI contains some necessary provisions of an administrative and general nature.
As Deputies are aware, the present allowances for the dependents of deceased persons who were killed in the course of duty during the pre-Truceand post-Truce periods or who died of wounds received or disease incurred during these periods, are provided for in the Acts of 1923, 1927 and 1932. In addition, the Act of 1937 provided for what are known as special dependents' allowances. I do not wish to go into these Acts in unnecessary detail and I think it will be sufficient if I say that in the 1923 Act, as subsequently amended, it is laid down that the allowance for the widow of an officer will be £135 a year, and for the widow of a soldier 17/6 a week. One allowance is payable to a wholly dependent relative, who may be the mother; the father if over 60 years of age or incapacitated by ill-health; a permanently invalided brother; a permanently invalided unmarried sister or a grandparent of the deceased person. This allowance is at the rate of £1 a week for the dependent relative of an officer and 15/- a week for the dependent relative of a soldier. The allowances under the Act of 1927 and the conditions as to total dependency are the same. In the Act of 1932, in which there is no distinction as to rank, the allowances are £67 10s. a year for a widow and 15/- a week for a wholly dependent relative. The special dependents' allowances provided for in the Act of 1937 are subject to a means test and cannot, when added to the dependent's yearly means, equal or exceed £40 a year. Only one such allowance is payable in respect of any deceased person, and the beneficiary may be his mother; his father, if over 60 years of age and incapacitated by ill-health; his permanently invalided brother or his permanently invalided unmarried sister. There are conditions as to dependency but that dependency need not have been total.
I have not, as I said, gone into absolute detail with regard to the provisions of the existing Acts; there are, for instance, somewhat higher allowances for dependents of persons executed in 1916. I have merely selected the salient points for the purpose of comparison with the provisions now contained in Part II of the present Bill. The Government, when considering, some time ago, the position generally of members of the OldI.R.A., decided to provide for the enhanced allowances now proposed for the dependents of deceased members. The first condition of eligibility for the award of an enhanced allowance is that the deceased person must have had pre-truce service. Assuming that he had such service, the allowance will be payable irrespective of whether he was killed, or received the wound or incurred the disease from which he died, during pre-truce or post-truce service. The second is that, in the case of wound or disease, the deceased person must have died from such wound or disease within what I may broadly describe as the four-year period already laid down, in one form or another, in the existing Acts. The detailed requirements in that regard are set out in the explanatory memorandum and I do not think I need detain the House by repeating them now.
The proposed rates of allowance are £250 a year for a widow, £180 a year for a parent and £125 a year for a widowed or unmarried sister. The rates will be the same, whether the deceased person was an officer or a soldier, and there is no question of dependency except in the case of a sister. Only one allowance will, of course, be payable at the same time in respect of any deceased person, but there is provision that where one of the relatives I have mentioned dies while in receipt of an enhanced allowance under this part, the appropriate allowance may be paid to a surviving eligible relative.
A number of widows, parents and sisters who are already in receipt of allowances under the existing Acts will, prima facie,be eligible for these enhanced allowances as from the 1st January, 1953, subject, where necessary, to the examination of their applications by the Military Service Registration Board and the Army Pensions Board, for which the Bill provides. In the same way, some of the relatives at present in receipt of special dependents' allowances under the Act of 1937, will also,prima facie,be eligible for the new allowance. Persons whose applications under the existing Acts were refused on grounds of means or because they were unableto prove total dependency will be eligible to apply now for these new allowances, as will also persons who did not previously apply under the existing Acts. There may have been persons who did not apply because they knew they did not comply with the means and dependency requirements. Allowances granted to persons not already in receipt of allowances under the Act will commence on a date not earlier than that on which this Bill becomes law.
Applications under this part will, where necessary, be referred to the Military Service Registration Board. In the past, there were various methods of establishing membership, etc. The Military Service Registration Board dealt with all applications under the Act of 1932, whereas under the earlier Acts, the Minister certified service from records available to him, and so on. It is now thought desirable that, where there may be doubt, the Military Service Registration Board should be able to subject applications, whether from persons in receipt of existing allowances or not, to examination for the purposes of this Bill, particularly on the important requirement of pre-truce service. I would emphasise that everybody—even persons in receipt of the existing allowances— desiring to be considered for the new allowances now being provided for must apply within 12 months after the Bill becomes law.
I think I have now dealt with the most important features of Part II and I may, therefore, pass on to Part III which relates to proposed increases in the rates of existing pensions and allowances. I may introduce the matter by saying that the pensions and allowances which were in operation up to 1949 were, in a number of cases, increased as from the 1st April, 1949, by the Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1949. This Act to some extent anticipated the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1950, which provided increases for other State pensioners—civil servants and so on—and, from the discussions earlier this year on the Military Service Pensions Act, 1953, Deputies will remember the general basis of the increase granted by the Act of 1950. It is setout in the present Bill at Section 12, which defines the expression "appropriate sum" and Deputies will see that there is a scale of increases commencing with a 50 per cent. increase on pensions under £100 a year. This particular part seems to me to be one which can best be discussed, if necessary, at Committee Stage, because it would be very tedious for the House if I were to take each section and explain the type of case to which it refers.
The principle which has been followed, however, is, where the pension or allowance is a fixed sum, to take it as it stood before the Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1949, was enacted and increase it by the appropriate annual sum. Where, as in the cases of officers discharged after the 1st October, 1924, the pension is not set down as a specific sum, but is expressed as a percentage of pay, the officer will be eligible for a pension of whichever of the following amounts is the lesser:—
(a) the amount of disability pension which would be payable if the Increase Act of 1949 had not been passed, increased by the appropriate annual sum, or
(b) the amount of pension which would be payable if he had been discharged on the 2nd September, 1946, and his rank and service on that date were the same as those on the date of his actual discharge.