HC Deb 16 December 1969 vol 793 cc296-8W
111. Mr. Higgins

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity if she will reproduce the table on page 6 of Command Paper No. 4237 with additional columns showing the appropriate prices and incomes policy norms for each period; and if she will estimate to what extent the increases in wage rates and above the norm earnings were justified by actual increases in productivity in industries where increases took place.

117. Mr. John Page

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity if she will publish a list showing the ceilings or norms for wage increases proposed by the Government since 1964, the period covered by each of these ceilings or norms and the appropriate growth in male and female rates and earnings, shown separately, for the relative period.

Mr. Harold Walker

The guidance for increases in incomes in the successive phases of the prices and incomes policy was set out in White Papers and it is not susceptible to summary in a tabular form for meaningful comparisons with movements in wage rates or earnings. Figures for increases in productivity which can be related to individual productivity agreements are not generally available but the report on Productivity Agreements by the National Board for Prices and Incomes, Cmnd. 4136, reached the conclusion that in most of the cases they examined the net effect was the achievement of lower costs per unit of output. The increases in hourly wage rates for men and women workers are shown separately below for the various periods set out in the table on page 6 of Cmnd. 4327.

PERCENTAGE INCREASES (AT ANNUAL RATES)
Hourly Wage Rates
Period Men Women All workers
April, 1965-June, 1966 7.1 8.5 7.4
July, 1966-June, 1967 2.7 3.2 2.8
July, 1967-March, 1968 9.5 8.1 9.2
April, 1968-December, 1968 4.4 4.4 4.5
January, 1969-September, 1969 4.1 4.4 4.3

114. Mr. Speed

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity which increases in wage rates awarded in the public sector during the last 12 months matched increases in private industry where local pay arrangements had inflated earnings.

Mr. Harold Walker

If the hon. Member will let me know which 12 month period he has in mind, I will write to him.

116. Mr. John Page

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity if she will publish a list showing how many wages orders and references are at present in force under the Prices and Incomes Act 1968, the dates when each will expire, and those to which it is still possible for her to apply the full 12-months standstill under the Act.

Mr. Harold Walker

I assume that the hon. Member is concerned with statutory standstills. I gave details of the two at present in force in reply to a Question from the hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr. Crouch) on 4th December. There will be no more standstills longer than 4 months. From today no Order imposing or extending a standstill following an adverse report from the National Board for Prices and Incomes can be made because the legislation requires that notice of intention to make such art Order must be given 14 days beforehand in the Gazette.—[Vol. 792, c. 1673–4.]

Mr. Holland

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity what was the percentage increase in average weekly wage rates and average weekly wage rates and average weekly earnings in the 12 months ended July, 1961 and each subsequent 12 months up to June, 1969; and what was the annual average increase in each of the two-year periods July, 1961 to June, 1963 and July, 1966 to June, 1968.

Mr. Walker

Following is the information. Since information about average earnings of manual workers is available only for April and October each year, the following figures have been calculated in respect of April each year.

PERCENTAGE INCREASE FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDING:
Date Average Weekly Wage Rates Average Weekly Earnings
April, 1961 3.8 6.6
April, 1962 3.6 4.0
April, 1963 3.8 3.0
April, 1964 4.3 9.1
April, 1965 4.0 7.5
April, 1966 5.5 7.4
April, 1967 2.4 2.1
April, 1968 7.5 8.5
April, 1969 (latest available) 5.1 7.6

The annual average increases in the two-year periods nearest to those requested were as follows:

April, 1961 to April, 1963 April, 1966 to April, 1968
Average weekly wage rates 3.6 4.8
Average weekly earnings 3.5 5.2