§ 2.45 p.m.
Lord InglewoodMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the salary increases of some officials of the Hammersmith and Fulham Council, reported in The Times newspaper of 21st January 1982 as showing increases of up to 130 per cent. between 1st July 1979 and 31st March 1981, are in accordance with the Government's general policy for restraint, if not for actual reductions, in local government expenditure.
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, the Government's general policy is reflected in the pay factor embodied in the annual rate support grant settlement. Decisions on pay are for individual local authorities to make, and only the Hammersmith and Fulham Council can justify the salaries paid to their own officials. My noble friend will know that The Times subsequently reported fresh figures showing that it had significantly overstated the salary increases to which he refers.
Lord InglewoodMy Lords, can the noble Earl keep me right by saying how far this overstatement is admitted?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, if my noble friend had read The Times of the next day he would have discovered the actual figures. The Times corrected the figures the following day and they should read that the pure pay increases had ranged between 76 per cent. and 92 per cent. and had been effective over a four-year period.