Miss Wardasked the Minister of Health what body negotiated the agreement which included equal pay for the higher grades employed by the Joint Pricing Committee; when the agreement was ratified; on what grounds the lower age groups were not included having regard to the established practice in the Civil Service;and if he will take steps to rectify this departure from precedent.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodThe scales which were applied to Insurance Committee (including pricing) staff on the 1st January, 1948, were those negotiated by the National Joint Council for Local Authorities' Administrative, Professional, Technical and Clerical Services, which had been adopted by the National Joint Council for Insurance Committees' Administrative, Technical and Clerical Services on 19th December, 1946. The new scales, and those which subsequently replaced them by agreement on the appropriate Whitley Council, have been applied 163W to all administrative and clerical staff in the National Health Service and there is therefore no departure from precedent in the case of pricing staff in the lower age groups.