HL Deb 01 April 1963 vol 248 cc352-4

2.43 p.m.

BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why, in establishing a Consumer Council, they have not accepted the two recommendations of the Molony Committee that the Chairman should be paid £3,000 per annum and devote half his time to the business of the Council, and that other members should be paid £500 per annum.]

LORD DERWENT

My Lords, the recommendation by the Committee on Consumer Protection that the Chairman of the Consumer Council should be paid £3,000 a year was based on the assumption that the Chairman would need to devote half his time to the business of the Council. My right honourable friend, taking into account the experience of other similar bodies, is of the opinion that the provision of a very competent staff under a high-ranking Director to deal with the day-to-day business of the Council will, when the Council is fully established, greatly reduce the calls on the time of the Chairman, and that in these circumstances an honorarium of £1,000 would be appropriate. As was announced on March 30, Miss Elizabeth Ackroyd, an Under-Secretary in the Board of Trade, has been appointed as the Council's first Director, with effect from to-day. Contrary to reports which have appeared in the Press, the Government have accepted the recommendation by the Committee that members of the Council should, if they so wish, be paid £500 a year.

BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRY

My Lords, as I hope the House will realise, there is nothing personal in this question, so far as the noble Lady who has been made Chairman is concerned. I myself was never a candidate for the chairmanship, and I should like to make that clear. But I would ask: does the noble Lord realise that a very unfortunate impression has been conveyed to most people by the mention of the word "honorarium"? Is he aware that most people interested in consumer protection do not believe, because of the amount of time that that term implies, that a Chairman receiving only an honorarium could devote the correct amount of time to the work of the Council?

LORD DERWENT

My Lords, I suppose that anyone receiving £1,000 a year does not mind what it is called.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, might I ask whether the term has been used as a face-saver for those who have ignored the Molony Committee recommendation that £3,000 should be paid and have appointed a woman who is to be paid at a rate which does not amount even to half-time?

LORD DERWENT

My Lords, the rate paid was considered appropriate by my right honourable friend. The appointment will, of course, be more than half-time to start off with; but after that, once it is running under a high-grade Director, my right honourable friend thinks that it will not be a half-time job and, therefore, that £1,000 a year is appropriate.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, am I to understand from what the noble Lord has said that £1,000 is now being paid for more than half-time work?

LORD DERWENT

My Lords, that might arise for a short time. My noble friend Lady Elliot of Harwood has taken no exception to this figure, and I do not know why the noble Baroness has.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

Because I have always objected to under-cutting.