HC Deb 18 April 1967 vol 745 cc280-2
12. Mr. John Lee

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many rises have occurred in incomes exceeding £10,000 and between £5,000 and £10,000; how many new occupations have been created with salaries in these two categories since Part IV of the Prices and Incomes Act, 1966 became operative; and how many rises have been prohibited under the provisions of that Act in respect of such categories.

43. Mr. Cronin

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what increases have occurred in earned incomes exceeding £5,000; how many new appointments have been created in these categories; and how many increases have been prohibited since Part IV of the Prices and Incomes Act, 1966, became operative.

Mr. MacDermot

I regret that this information is not available.

Mr. Lee

Should it not be available? Is it not rather unsatisfactory, and how does my hon. and learned Friend expect us to have a fair incomes policy if we do not know what incomes there are in existence?

Mr. MacDermot

What we are concerned with is the collection of information of this kind as a result of analysing Income Tax returns. I am afraid that to try to extract this kind of information from tax returns would call for a quite disproportionate effort.

Mr. Cronin

Would the Financial Secretary not agree that, apart from the high income groups to which my hon. Friend referred, there has been extensive evasion of the wage freeze by employers and higher-paid workers on specious grounds of promotion or increased responsibility, very much to the detriment of lower-paid workers who are in well-defined categories and cannot get increases?

Mr. MacDermot

I am not aware of such evidence, and I believe that surveys which have been carried out by management consultants indicate that, in the salary sphere, the standstill and severe restraint policy has been fully respected. I think that this has been mainly concerned with salaries between £2,500 and £5,000 a year, but I have no reason to think that the same does not apply to salaries in a higher range than that.

Sir C. Osborne

Have back bench hon. Members who have been promoted to Ministerial positions objected to increases in salary?

Mr. Michael Foot

Is it not the case that under the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget proposals relief is given to certain Surtax payers, as compared with the previous situation, which will cost the Exchequer a considerable sum of money? How do the Government justify that when they refuse reliefs to members of the population who are in difficult circumstances?

Mr. MacDermot

My hon. Friend is mistaken. There is no relief granted. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor confirmed that a one-year surcharge would he a one-year surcharge.