§ 1. Mr. Gardnerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the findings of the Civil Service Pay Research Unit in order to provide a comparison of pay and conditions between private employment and the norm accepted by the Civil Service National Whitley Council.
§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Niall MacDermot)No, Sir. Much of the information received by the unit is available only if treated as confidential.
§ Mr. GardnerWill my hon. and learned Friend accept that this was intended to be a helpful Question? Would not he agree that the very important finding of this unit would be helpful in setting an objective standard by which we could decide precisely who were the lower paid workers?
§ Mr. MacDermotI accept what my hon. Friend says about his intention, but the difficulty about publication is that the usefulness of this work depends on retaining confidentiality.