§ 16. Mr. G. M. Thomsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland when the staffs in the technical colleges amongst the central institutes may expect to receive their new salary awards; to what date it will be retrospective; and whether he will take steps to improve the machinery of staff consultation over salaries.
§ Mr. MaclayThe governing bodies of the four colleges concerned, after consultation with their staffs, have made proposals to them, but these have not yet been accepted by all the staffs. New salary scales require, of course, to be approved by me. Any new scales will, however, operate from 1st November, 1956. As regards the last part of the Question, I understand that the industrial relations officer of the Ministry of Labour has invited representatives of the governing bodies and the staff associations to consider with him the possibility of setting up joint negotiating machinery.
§ Mr. ThomsonI thank the right hon. Gentleman for his Answer, and particularly for the latter part. Now that technical education is so vital, is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the great importance of establishing a normal system for the negotiation of salaries in technical colleges? Is he also aware that his Answer has shown that this very long 1014 delay is an indication of how inadequate is the present system of negotiating machinery?
§ Mr. MaclayI think that I met the point fully in my original Answer.