HC Deb 30 August 1895 vol 36 cc1240-1
MR. McEWAN (Edinburgh, Central)

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether a Petition from the junior section of the Second Division Clerks in the Civil Service, asking for an increase of salary and an addition to their annual leave of absence, was received by the Treasury last December; and, whether the Treasury have yet come to any decision on the subject?

THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) Preston

Yes, Sir, the decision of the Treasury has been communicated to the departments from which the Petitions were received.

Mr. T. M. HEALY

I beg to ask the Secretary of the Treasury—(1) if a reply has been prepared in answer to a Petition from the Ridley Clerks of the Second Division of the Civil Service forwarded to the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury in 1894, praying for an improvement in their salaries; and (2) whether, in the consideration of this Petition, it is intended to remedy the system which exists in the Government service whereby a Playfair Clerk of the Second Division, who may have entered the Civil Service only two years prior to the entry of a Ridley Clerk of the Second Division, receives £50 or £60 a year more than the latter, although both are generally employed on the same sort of clerical work in the several Government offices?

MR. HANBURY

As I have stated, in reply to question No. 9, the decision of the Treasury has been communicated to the Departments from which Petitions were received. The latter part of the question is the same as that asked by the hon. Member for Kilkenny on the 22nd instant, and I have nothing to add to the reply then given.

MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (Liverpool, Scotland)

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury—(1) whether any Playfair Clerk of the Second Division served more than 15 years before being placed on the new scale; (2) whether the Treasury regarded the salaries paid to Playfair Clerks during their first 10 or 15 years of service as excessive; (3) whether under the new scale their salaries were increased by a more rapid system of increments; (4) whether he is aware that Ridley Clerks of the Second Division, commencing at £70 a year, receive in salary during the first 10 years of service a total sum less by £190 than the Playfair Clerks introduced at £95 per annum, and that compared with Playfair Clerks placed on the new scale within 10 years of their appointment the difference is still greater; and, (5) whether he will take such steps as will place the salaries of all the clerks of the Second Division on a similar basis?

MR. HANBURY

I am not sure that I understand the object of the first question, but the scale of the Playfair Lower Division was in operation only from 1876 to 1889, which is less than 14 years. The new scale was fixed, after full consideration, by the Royal Commission as being better suited than the old to the conditions of the employment. The Government have accepted it, and have no intention of altering it. It was an essential part of the change that the scale of salary should in the earlier years of service be less than under the Playfair Scheme, but that it should rise by annual increments more rapidly and to a much higher maximum. The scale in force before 1889 has been given to no one since appointed, but its benefits could not be withdrawn from anyone then serving.