HC Deb 04 May 1961 vol 639 cc1584-5
28. Mr. H. Clark

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware of the increasing concern felt by overseas service officers and other Government servants in Kenya about the method being adopted to implement the Flemming Report on Salaries; and what reply he has given to the letters on this subject sent to him by the Kenya Senior Civil Servants Association.

Mr. Iain Macleod

I am aware of this concern. I have not yet received any letters on the subject sent to me by the Kenya Senior Civil Servants Association but I understand that one is on the way to me and I will of course be ready to look into any representations which may be made to me.

Mr. Clark

Would my right hon. Friend give special consideration to a change being made in the educational allowance in the implementation of the Flemming Report? Is he aware that the educational allowance, above all others, would play a part in the decision that dozens of civil servants will take whether to stay in Kenya or come back home?

Mr. Macleod

I will gladly look into it. I hope that hon. Members who have received these letters will realise that the report on the O.S.A. scheme and the Flemming Report have to be read together and that both are a recognition of Her Majesty's Government's determination to do everything they can for all those who serve in these territories.

Mr. Callaghan

If there is a difference between these officers and the Colonial Office, not only in this organisation but in others, who settles the dispute? Does the right hon. Gentleman reserve the right to have the last word?

Mr. Macleod

In a matter like that it would be normal for an association, as often happens in the case of East Africa, to make special representations to me. Clearly I in my turn, and this is common form if it is a financial matter, must carry the Treasury with me before any alteration in the scheme can be made. Such an alteration, if agreed with the Treasury and myself, could then be made to a scheme.

Mr. Callaghan

Does not the right hon. Gentleman realise that in the eyes of many of these civil servants the Colonial Secretary and the Treasury may be in league against them and it is no comfort to them to know that the right hon. Gentleman has to carry the Treasury with them? Is he aware that I have received a dozen memorials from different organisations throughout East Africa complaining about the implementation of the Flemming Report? I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman has received them yet. Will he consider whether some arbitration machinery should be set up to consider the disputes that seem to be arising between him and these organisations?

Mr. Macleod

That any Minister in any Government has to carry the Treasury with him, as the hon. Member knows very well, is one of the facts of life of government, and nothing more than that should be read into it. The amount of money which we have to put on the backs of British taxpayers for these schemes show that we have the warmest sympathy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Treasury in this matter. I am ready to consult closely on these matters either with the Kenya Association or with other associations of the Civil Service in Colonial Territories.