HC Deb 25 October 1973 vol 861 c720W
Mr. Meacher

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what he estimates to have been the increase over the last year in the value of perquisites directly or indirectly deriving from employment which fall outside the controls imposed under stage 2 of the counter-inflation proposals; and if he will list such perquisites.

Mr. Nott

The Price and Pay Code applies to all forms of remuneration, including new benefits, and any improvement or extension of existing benefits.

The following, however, are exempt from the pay limit:

  1. i. improvements in holidays up to the level of three weeks a year,
  2. ii. improvements in certain pension schemes,
  3. iii. improvements in redundancy or incapacity payments.

Under stage 2 profit-sharing, share-incentive and share-option schemes existing before 6th November 1972 were also allowed to continue, and we are now reviewing the draft code for stage 3 to see whether any modification to those provisions is necessary. It is not possible to estimate the overall movement in such benefits over the last year. But it will not have been significant as a proportion of the national pay bill.