§ MR. ATHERLEY-JONES (Durham, N.W.)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether it is contemplated, in the event of the Secretaries of State for Trade and Local Government both being enacted, that the salaries of the respective Secretaries of State for Trade and Local Government will be the same amount as those now received by the present Secretaries of State; and whether the salaries of the permanent officials will be increased to the standard of those obtaining in offices to which Secretaries of State pertain.
(Answered by Mr. A. J. Balfour.) If the Bill becomes law the salaries of the present holders of the two offices in question will not be raised during the present Parliament. After the present Parliament, or in the event of a fresh appointment to the office, the salaries will presumably be raised to the usual salaries of a Secretary of State; but that will rest with the Administration to propose, and with Parliament to decide. It is intended, if the Bill becomes law, that, generally speaking, the salaries of the permanent officials should be raised to the scale obtaining in the office of a Secretary of State.