§ Mr. Molloyasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the problems of working in the Civil Service, which were the subject of a recent joint statement by the Official and Staff Sides of the Civil Service National Whitley Council.
§ The Prime MinisterA stable, loyal and efficient Civil Service is part of the essential fabric of an ordered society. Civil servants must be fairly treated, and there should be no discrimination against the public service as compared with other sectors. So I welcome the joint statement by the Official and Staff Sides of the Civil Service National Whitley Council. I welcome, too, the full involvement of the staff through the staff associations in the current review of the problems of working in the Civil Service. I 431W hope that realistic programmes of action emerge from this exercise. As the employers of civil servants, we shall be keenly interested in putting in hand within the resources available whatever lines of action prove to be needed. In particular we shall not retreat from the system of fair comparison as the normal basis for determining Civil Service pay.