§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (Lord Belstead) rose to move That this House approves that the first resolution of this House of 26th July 1984 should have effect as if—
- (a)under paragraph (l)(c) (limit on office, secretarial and research allowance) the appropriate amount for expenses incurred in the year beginning with 1st August 1985 had remained at £19.00;
- (b) under paragraph (l)(d) (limit on office holders' secretarial allowance) the limit for that year had remained at £2,202.00; and
- (c) the relevant percentage for the year beginning with 1st August 1986 were 6 per cent.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing on the Order Paper in the name of my noble friend the Leader of the House. I think it will be for the convenience of the House if I explain the purpose of this Motion. As many noble Lords will be aware, the House agreed in July 1984 that allowances payable to Lords in respect of secretarial costs, postage and certain additional expenses, and the secretarial allowance for Ministers and other paid office holders in this House, should be uprated annually on 1st August. The uprating, it was agreed, would be equal to the increase in the maximum point of the pay scale, excluding allowances and overtime, for a senior personal secretary in the Civil Service in receipt of inner London weighting.
§ A restructuring of the Civil Service secretarial grades in March 1986 had the effect of subsuming a number of proficiency allowances within the pay scale. As a result, the application of the uprating formula this year would produce an increase in the allowance of about 18 per cent. This is clearly a distortion of what was intended by the 1984 resolution. The Motion that I now move has the effect of amending the 1984 resolution so far as regards this year's uprating and sets it at 6 per cent., which is in line with the general pay increase for the Civil Service. I am sure that noble Lords will agree that this is entirely fair. My Lords, I beg to move.
§ Moved, That this House approves that the first resolution of this House of 26th July 1984 should have effect as if—
- (a)under paragraph (l)(c) (limit on office, secretarial and research allowance) the appropriate amount for expenses incurred in the year beginning with 1st August 1985 had remained at £19.00:
- (b) under paragraph (1)(d) (limit on office holders' secretarial allowance) the limit for that year had remained at £2,202.00; and
- (c) the relevant percentage for the year beginning with 1st August 1986 were 6 per cent.—(Lord Belstead.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.