In the absence of the Minister for Defence, who is slightly indisposed, I have been asked to act on his behalf.
I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. This Bill, as Deputies will see, is mainly concerned with the grant of increases in disablement pensions and wound gratuities, and in certain allowances and gratuities to dependents of deceased persons, payable under the Army Pensions Acts, 1923 to 1953. The increases are effective from 1st August, 1956, and in fact are being paid since that date on the authority of a Supplementary Estimate for pensions passed in this House on the 25th July, 1956.
I should perhaps explain that under two previous Acts—the Army Pensions (Increase) Act of 1949 and the Army Pensions Act of 1953—disablement pensions and allowances under the Army Pensions Acts were increased generally in accordance with the scale of increases which was applied to other classes of State pensions under the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1950.
The Pensions (Increase) Act, 1956, has in the meantime authorised further increases in these classes of pensions with effect from the 1st August, 1956, and Part II of the Bill now before the House authorises increases—on the same basis and with effect from the same date—in the pensions and allowances mentioned in the various sections of the Bill. The scale of increases —which extends from 15 per cent. on pensions under £100 to 6 per cent. on pensions of £450 or over—is set out in Sections 3 and 29 of the Bill. These percentage increases apply to the original rates as later increased by the Army Pensions (Increase) Act of 1949 and the Army Pensions Act, 1953.
The Pensions (Increase) Act of 1950 —that is the one dealing with civil pensions—applied the principle that no pensioner whose pension was directly related to his pay could receive an increase which would bring his pension above what it would be if his services terminated on the 31st October, 1946, and his rank and service in that rank were the same as on the actual date of his retirement.
That principle was followed in the Army Pensions (Increase) Act of 1949 and in the Act of 1953 in the cases— and they arise only for officers—where pension is computed as a percentage of pay. The same principle has been embodied in the Pensions (Increase) Act of 1956—that is the Act dealing with increases in civil pensions— except that the critical date is the 1st November, 1952, which was the date of a general pay increase both for civil and Army personnel. Consequently the same principle with the new date has been embodied in this Bill in relation to any pensions of the type concerned. Pensions which are expressed as fixed rates are increased as set out in the tables and Schedules in the Bill and they apply irrespective of the date of termination of service.
Another general matter to which I should refer deals with the increases of pensions of £450 or over. Up to this no increases were given where a pension or aggregate of pensions amounted to £450 or more. Moreover in the case of a pension so near to £450 that the grant of the appropriate increase would bring it above that figure, the increase was limited to such amount as would bring the pension to £450 and no more. That restriction, or ceiling as it became known, is not repeated in this measure with the result that pensions of £450 or more will receive an increase of 6 per cent. However, the increases— as I mentioned earlier—apply to the pensions as payable under the previous Acts so that the effect of the previous ceiling must be taken into account before the rates of increases now authorised are applied. This position is achieved by Sections 27, 28 and 29 of the Bill.
Married pensions, that is pensions payable to married men in addition to basic disablement pension, are being increased by a flat 35 per cent. instead of the 25 per cent. authorised in the Army Pensions Act of 1953. These married pensions vary in such a way that it is not practicable without creating anomalies to include them in the scale of increases which apply to the basic pensions.
Gratuities payable to wound pensioners, and gratuities to widows and other dependents of deceased persons to whom the Acts apply, are being increased by approximately 75 per cent. These gratuities have not been increased hitherto and the percentage increases now being authorised are therefore higher than those applicable to the pensions and allowances. Certain educational allowances which were not previously increased are now being increased as well.
The estimated total annual cost of the increases provided for is £23,330 and the necessary provision has been made in the Army Pensions Estimate for the current year which has already been approved by this House.
Part III of the Bill consists of miscellaneous amendments and I shall deal with these now.
Sections 31 and 39 amend the Acts by relieving the Minister for Finance of certain functions which he exercises in relation to the making of grants of pension, etc. At present the consent of the Minister for Finance must be obtained before a grant of pension, allowance or gratuity is made under the terms of the Acts. The amendments embodied in Sections 31 and 39 will remove the necessity for such consent and in future grants will be made solely by the Minister for Defence.
Deputies will recall that the Minister for Defence introduced a similar measure recently in respect of awards of service pension under the Defence Forces (Pensions) Acts to former members of the Permanent Defence Force. That measure and these amendments now are part of a general development between the Department of Defence and the Department of Finance aimed at improving administration by removing requirements which are not really essential from an Exchequer point of view but which involve time and administrative procedures which would not otherwise be necessary. The Minister for Defence is, of course, bound by the terms of the Acts and the interests of the Exchequer will in no way be adversely affected. On the contrary, official time will be saved and more expeditious clearance of cases as they arise will be possible.
Section 32 provides a new scale of percentages of pay for calculation of pension in the case of an officer of the Permanent Defence Force who retires on or after the date of the passing of the Bill and who may qualify for a pension under the 1923 Act, i.e., in respect of a wound received before 1st October, 1923. This arises from the introduction of consolidated pay for officers and follows what was done in the 1953 Act in relation to other pensions.
The next matter dealt with is that of special allowances and various aspects of these are covered in Sections 33,36 and 38. I shall begin by referring to the fact that the latest date at present laid down for an application for a service medal which, if granted, renders a person qualified to apply for a special allowance, is 5th August, 1954, i e, 12 months after the date of the passing of the Army Pensions Act, 1953. This latest date has been extended from time to time in the past in response to pleas that deserving cases were ruled out by the operation of the previous time limits.
Section 36 moves forward the date to one not later than 12 months after the date of the passing of this Bill. The prescribing of latest dates for applications generally gives rise to criticism and views are put forward that there should be no closing dates at all. These views do not take cognisance of the fact that over 35 years have now elapsed since the Truce in 1921 and that as time passes it is more difficult to get satisfactory evidence one way or another on the claims made for service medals. I feel, therefore, that in the interests of proper verification a closing date must be specified and that the new one now provided for goes as far as can reasonably be expected.
Anyone who has not yet applied and who considers he is entitled to and wishes to apply for a service medal in respect of continuous membership during the period of three months which ended on the date of the Truce, i.e., 11th July, 1921, should make his application without delay, but in any case within 12 months from the date of the passing of the Bill. Since the last closing date, i.e., 5th August, 1954, over 3,000 applications for such medals have been received in the Department and these will be validated by this section in so far as the time limit for applications is concerned and no renewal of such applications will be necessary.
Section 33 deals with the position which arises when, in the case of a person already in receipt of a special allowance, his entitlement to the medal on which his eligibility for the special allowance is based, is impugned by later evidence. If in such a case the Minister ceases to be satisfied that the medal was duly awarded, then the special allowance is of course stopped. This section gives the Minister clear cut legal power for that step and it also enables him to restore the special allowance if further later evidence should substantiate the original claim to the medal. The section operates as from the date of the passing of the 1946 Army Pensions Act which introduced the service medal as a qualification for special allowance.
Section 38 also deals with special allowances and makes two changes in the existing position. It removes the obligation placed by Section 43 of the Army Pensions Act of 1953 on a special allowance holder to notify any improvement in his means since they were last investigated on the Minister's behalf. Experience of the operation of that section since it was introduced has shown that for legal and practical reasons it has been largely inoperative so that its removal is desirable. In future reliance will be placed on the normal departmental investigation to bring any improvement in means to notice as the most practical way to meet the situation. The other change effected by Section 38 of the Bill is to apply in effect the terms of Section 50 of the Army Pensions Act, 1937, to prosecutions. This provides that a prosecution for an offence under the section may be brought within six months after the date when the evidence to sustain the prosecution came to the notice of the Minister for Defence.
Sections 34 and 35 relate to allowances payable under Part II of the 1953 Act in respect of certain deceased persons who had pre-Truce service. Section 34 gives power to the Minister for Finance to review and alter an opinion reached by him in certain cases and to grant an allowance if he should be of opinion that the applicant should be treated as a dependent of the deceased. Section 35 extends the time limit laid down in Section 6 of the Act of 1953 for applications where an applicant died before a decision was reached on his claim and where another relative then wished to apply. The position in this respect at present is that the second relative might be ruled out under the existing time limit before in fact he would be aware of his eligibility to apply.
Section 37 arises primarily as a consequence of the amendments in Sections 31 and 39 which do away with the necessity for the consent of the Minister for Finance to the grant of, among other things, a gratuity to a relative of a person who dies in certain circumstances before an award of a pension, allowance or gratuity is made to him. This involves the repeal of Section 12 of the Act of 1949 and Section 44 of the Act of 1953. The section adapts the provisions of those repealed sections to the new circumstances and also extends the benefit of the earlier provisions to the case of a disablement pensioner who dies after the expiry of one award and before a further award has been made. In such a case a gratuity equal to the amount of the pension which would have been due to the date of death will, as a result of this new section, be payable to any of the relatives mentioned in the section. The section becomes effective as from the 1st November, 1955.
The foregoing is an outline of what is contained in this measure and I trust that it will have proved helpful to Deputies in their understanding of it. If there are any further points on which information or explanation is required I shall endeavour to deal with them when I am concluding.