§ Mr. Sheldonasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will make a statement on the progress on unified grading in the scientific, works group and related classes.
§ Mr. Shore:We are planning to introduce unified grading to cover the members of all classes at the top levels of the Civil Service in the near future; and a major study of the practicability of extending it downwards is under way. Details are in the recent report by the National Whitley Council. Meanwhile, as I informed the hon. Member for Guildford (Mr. David Howell) on 23rd April, negotiations for an interim merger of the Scientific classes up to and including the Principal Scientific Officer have begun with the aim of introducing a merged structure with effect from 1st January, 1971. A similar merger of the Works Group and associated classes will take a little longer.