HC Deb 02 April 1946 vol 421 cc1106-7
54. Mr. Butcher

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the salaries paid to shorthand typists and to typists in the Civil Service are equal to those paid to members of the staff of the Bank of England

Mr. H. Morrison

My right hon. Friend has no direct responsibility for the salaries paid to the shorthand typists and typists of the Bank of England, which, under the Charter, are determined by the Court of Directors. In the circumstances he prefers not to enter into the sort of comparison which the hon Member suggests.

Mr. Butcher

Will the right hon. Gentleman examine the history of the Bank of England under private enterprise? He will realise that they did not have the same difficulty in regard to staff as the Civil Service has.

Mr. Morrison

Either the House wants the Chancellor of the Exchequer meticulously to control the Bank of England, or it wants the Bank of England to be free of meticulous political intervention. The House cannot have it both ways.

Mr. I. J. Pitman

Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that this is not a question of seeking to reduce the pay in the Bank of England, but of seeking to raise the rate of pay to the Civil Service? Surely that is not outside his interest?

Mr. Morrison

If that is so, then the question had better be put on the Order Paper.

Mr. W. J. Brown

Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware—are not the whole Government aware—that for many months past the Civil Service unions have been doing their best to persuade this Government to make something like reasonable rates of pay to the shorthand typists? Is it not time the Government began to devote a little bit of attention to the people behind them who are doing the job? I can tell him they are getting pretty fed up.

Mr. Morrison

That is very eloquent, and what I should have expected from the hon. Member, but it has nothing to do with the Question on the Paper, which relates to the comparison between the salaries paid to typists in the Bank of England and the Treasury.