Orders of the Day — Teachers (Superannuation) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 December 1955.

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Photo of Sir Isaac Pitman Sir Isaac Pitman , Bath 12:00, 6 December 1955

That is just quibbling over words. The hon. Gentleman is saying exactly what I said he had said. In accepting a liability, as in guaranteeing an overdraft, the Government are making a considerable "consideration" in terms of contract.

The other point which I should like to take up with the hon. Gentleman is that he asked in what respect the Bill differs from the earlier one. To begin with, there is the immensely important factor that the other Bill left the whole thing up in the air. The treatment of future deficiencies was not provided for. The teachers had to go, septennial after septennial, to fight out in the country, and in the House, something which ought to have been settled and which will now be settled by the Bill. It is in that respect that there is the biggest improvement.

The next improvement to which I attach importance is the acceptance of the whole of the liability for £300 million. Whatever anybody may say, I am absolutely certain that the teachers, in their sober moments, will say that that is a fine piece of acceptance of liability by the Government and that they are grateful. Thirdly, there has been a really substantial point in not penalising the young incoming teacher and making him pay part of the pensions of existing teachers by an overpayment of his rate of contribution. I remember very clearly the strong point made by the N.U.T. in their objection to that.

Then, finally, there is a real benefit in having got quite clear who is the employer and who is responsible for the payment of salaries and for the payment of pensions. It seems to me that of all things likely to bedevil relations between a man and his employer is to have his salary coming from one source and his pension coming from another and dubious source, so that he really does not know where he stands in relation one to the other. From now on it will be perfectly clear that the slate is wiped clean—that is an expression used of the £300 million, which is a nice and generous wiping—and that from now on it is an issue of salary and of pension coming from only one source with only one person responsible, and a clear matching of duty and responsibility with power in that one person.

A very wise man once told me that the greatest friction always arose in choosing which was the least bad of two thoroughly bad alternatives. He said: "It is very easy to make the choice between a good and bad alternative. It is a bit more difficult to choose which is the better of two good ones, but the fur really begins to fly when whichever one of the two one chooses one is in a real mess." And this has been a real mess. As my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, South (Mr. Maude) pointed out, successive Governments have run away from this, and the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Battersea, North (Mr. Jay), a former Financial Secretary, smiled blandly when that point was made. I think that we are like the bull angry with both alternatives that is charging at the red cloak, not realising that in point of fact the red cloak conceals the sight of what are the two real villains of the piece. The two villains of the piece are, firstly, inflation and, secondly, the poverty of local government finance.

I have been a keen member of the N.U.T. for a number of years. I am not a representative, in the sense that everything I say is what I think and I do not purport to represent that union in any way whatever, but I protest—and I think the whole House will protest—against the I per cent. cut in salaries. It will be a good thing for it to be clearly on record that the teachers have suffered such a diminution. If we take salary and pension together as a global whole the teacher is definitely 1 per cent. down in salary, and he will not get any more bread and butter when he retires. We must avoid pounds, shillings and pence, because we do not know what will happen to the pound, but in terms of bread and butter the teacher will be getting as pension no more than was the understanding under the Act, but he will be paying more out of salary. It is good that the House should recognise that there has in fact been that cut.

The teacher and we in this House have a right to protest about this, but the issue is, to whom are we to protest? Should it be to this House and the Government, who are not the employers of the teachers, or should it be to the local education authorities who are the employers? I was interested to hear the Minister say that it is local authorities generally, including Socialist controlled local authorities, who have refused to pay 7 per cent. so that the teachers may continue paying 5 per cent., and who have refused to put into operation the widows and dependants scheme straight away. If during the Committee discussions we have an Amendment to allow any local authority to put the widows and dependants scheme into force, it will be interesting to see whether the Socialist controlled authorities will fall over one another to do so, as might be implied from what we have heard during this debate.