§ 28. Mr. G. M. Thomsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he accepts the salary recommendations of the Advisory Council on Education in its Report on the Supply of Teachers in Secondary Schools.
§ Mr. N. MacphersonMy right hon. Friend would prefer not to comment on these recommendations until he has received the views of the National Joint Council to deal with the salaries of teachers in Scotland.
§ Mr. ThomsonIs the Minister aware that these recommendations are the result of deliberations extending over a period of two years by an extremely powerful and influential committee and that the matter is now of great urgency? Will he give an assurance that the Secretary of State will take his decision without waiting for the usual triennial consideration next April?
§ Mr. MacphersonI cannot give that assurance. It was, of course, within the rights of the Advisory Council—and my right hon. Friend was glad that it did so—to give the matter very full consideration. Before my right hon. Friend makes salary regulations, however, he is required by Statute to notify the National Joint Council and to have regard to its recommendations. Before anything else happens, therefore, he must receive the National Joint Council's recommendations.