HC Deb 27 April 1972 vol 835 cc1754-5
16. Mr. Hunt

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has yet completed his consideration of the possibility of paying the same London weighting allowance to probation officers working in all 12 of the Inner London Boroughs.

Mr. Maudling

Not yet, Sir. I recently put an alternative proposal to the Joint Negotiating Committee for the Probation Service, but they found it unacceptable.

Mr. Hunt

Will my right hon. Friend tell us what possible justification there can be for excluding probation officers working in four boroughs—Hammersmith. Wandsworth, Lewisham and Greenwich—from the London weighting allowance? Is it not bound to have an adverse effect on both morale and recruitment? Will he remedy this absurd anomaly?

Mr. Maudling

The justification for the Government's offer is that it is precisely in line with the London weighting allowance currently being paid to administrative, professional and clerical staffs of London borough councils, including social workers. I should add that this matter has not been resolved. I have only just received the rejection of our alternative proposal, and I am considering it.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

Now that the right hon. Gentleman has been relieved of the burden of Northern Ireland, may I ask him to speed up consideration of a matter which is causing great anxiety in the probation service and is regarded by it as an acute injustice? May I suggest that, unless he acts quickly, there will be a loss of further experienced officers to some of the London boroughs?

Mr. Maudling

The Government's offer is based on the existing practice for the London addition to the salary of probation officers to be based on the weighting allowance in the London boroughs. At the same time, I shall be happy to get the matter out of the way. It is a source of irritation to many people and should be dealt with.

Mr. Selwyn Gummer

Does not my right hon. Friend agree that to use the fact that some people are unjustly treated as a reason for treating unjustly probation officers in the borough of which I represent part is not very helpful when the borough is short of probation officers and needs them urgently?

Mr. Maudling

I do not think that it is any business of mine that other people regard it as unjust.