§ 8. Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what contingency plans he has for dealing with major breaches of the wage and cost aspects of the social contract during the next six months.
§ Mr. FootI believe it is much more important to work to prevent breaches of the social contract, major or minor, than to consider continguency plans in the event of failure.
§ 23. Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Employment which recent pay settlements within the public sector have violated the social contract.
§ Mr. FootAs I have told the House before, I do not believe it would be desirable to tabulate individual wage settlements in the way the hon. Member suggests.
§ 28. Mr. MacGregorasked the Secretary of State for Employment what consideration he is giving to proposing the introduction of sanctions to deal with cases of breach of the social contract.
§ Mr. FootI am not considering the introduction of sanctions. As I have said before, it is important that people should understand that the Government have no intention of reintroducing a wage freeze or other statutory control of pay.
§ 30. Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many wage settlements he has publicly identified as being in breach of the social contract since its inception.
§ Mr. FootI have commented on five settlements which were self-evidently in breach of the TUC guidelines.
36. Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a further statement about the working of the social contract to the present date.
§ Mr. FootMy general assessment of the position remains as stated in my394W speech to the House on 5th November. Since then the TUC has issued a further circular to affiliated unions re-emphasising that unions should continue to operate within the guidelines of the Social Contract, and I very much welcome this.
§ 41. Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the estimated total numbers of people in the private sector and in the public sector covered by pay settlements known to his Department made during the last six months; and what percentage of each is covered by settlements which the Government believe to be outside their social contract with the TUC.
§ Mr. FootInformation is not available to answer the first part of this Question. As regards the second part, I have told the House before that it is neither necessary nor appropriate that we should attempt to adjudicate on which settlements are within, and which outside, the TUC guidelines.
§ 57. Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the relevance of the level of unemployment to the prospects for fulfilment of the social contract.
§ Mr. FootThe Government's determination to restore and sustain full employment—as stated in our recent manifesto—constitutes an important element in the social contract. In turn this depends to a large extent on the TUC's guidelines being observed. If the guidelines were to be persistently breached it would be so much the more difficult to prevent heavy unemployment. It would also injure our ability to combat inflation and to undertake a wide-ranging programme of improvements in the economic and social fields.