Mr. MILNEasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether any of the recommendations set out by the Committee presided over by Sir Alan Anderson in connection with pay, etc., of civil servants have been carried out by the Government; and, if not, whether it is the intention of the Government to carry out these proposals?
Mr. GRAHAMThe Anderson Committee reported that "on the whole the pay rolls of the Civil Service have been carefully and wisely arranged," and that "the increase in staff since 1914 is fully accounted for by the extra work thrown on the Civil Service since 1914." The Committee made only one recommendation, specifically advocating a reduction in present rates of pay; this was to the effect that young women recruited to the administrative, executive, and clerical grades of the Service should be paid lower initial rates of salary than young men similarly recruited. This recommendation has not been put into force, and the Government would not propose to take any action on it pending further general consideration of the whole question of the relation of men's to women's rates. For the rest, the Committee came to the conclusion that, broadly speaking, expenditure on the Civil Service is determined by the magnitude of the duties placed upon it by Parliament, and that "no power except Parliament can materially reduce the load." Subject to this governing factor, every effort is being made, and will continue to be made, to avoid unnecessary expenditure, and I may perhaps mention that since 1st March, 1923 (the date to which the Anderson Committee's statistics refer), the non-industrial staffs of the Civil Service throughout Great Britain have been reduced by more than 6,500.