§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the scale of overtime payments for 622 abstractor clerks was calculated on the maximum salary of £150; and in view of the fact that a number of these clerks in the Customs Statistical Office are in receipt of a salary and allowance rising to £180, for checking the work of other clerks who are engaged upon the duties of compiling and preparing for publication the Board of Trade Returns of Imports and Exports, whether he will amend the scale of overtime payment in such a manner that the rate per hour shall not be less than that earned during the day.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. MCKENNA,) Monmouthshire, N.With regard to the first part of the Question I have nothing to add to the Answer which I gave the hon. Member on the 1st instant.† It is a fact that the checking allowances are not taken account of in fixing the rate of overtime payment. These allowances are intended to cover all work, whether in or out of official hours, for which they are given, and do not form an integral part of the rate of salary, on which a rate of overtime payment can be equitably calculated.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYArising out of that, am I to understand that overtime pay is less than scale pay earned day by day?
§ MR. McKENNAThese are extra allowances and not overtime pay.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYIs it not quite clear that overtime is paid for at a lower rate than ordinary duty?
§ MR. MCKENNANo, Sir, it is not quite clear.