§ 71. Mr. HANNONasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state the average remuneration of a civil servant, excluding the manipulative and industrial grades; what percentage of increase has taken place in such remuneration since the beginning of the War; upon what cost-of-living figure is bonus now being paid; and upon what date and upon what basis is the bonus next to be readjusted?
§ Sir J. BAIRDInformation obtained for the Committee on National Expenditure, in January, 1922, showed that the average remuneration (including bonus in the case of permanent officers) of a civil servant, excluding manipulative and industrial grades, messengers and charwomen, is, approximately, £281 per annum, representing an increase of 61.8 per cent. over the corresponding pro-War average figure. For the purpose of this calculation, the bonus of permanent-officers was calculated with reference to an assumed average cost-of-living figure of 100 per cent. above July, 1914. The cost-of-living figure on which bonus is at present paid is 105: this figure is due to be revised on 1st September next, under the agreed sliding scale, upon the basis of the average cost-of-living figure for the preceding six months, and, whilst it is clear that a considerable reduction will then fall to be made in it, the extent of the reduction cannot be stated with certainty until the cost-of-living figures for the months of July and August are available.