Review Body Reports (Hansard, 3 February 1994)

§ The Prime Minister

The 1994 reports of the review bodies on the pay of school teachers, senior civil servants, the senior military, the judiciary, the armed forces, doctors and dentists, nursing staff, midwives and health vistors and the professions allied to medicine have now been published. Copies are available in the Vote Office and the Library of the House. The Government are grateful to the members of the review bodies for the time and care which they have put into the preparation of the reports.

The Government's policy is that increases in pay must be fully met from existing budgets. Pay increases for 848W public sector staff therefore have to be paid for by greater efficiency, or by savings in the cost of running Government itself. This position was made clear in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement on public sector pay on 14 September, and reaffirmed in his Budget statement and in the Government's evidence to the review bodies. It is fundamental to the Government's response to their recommendations.

The review bodies have made the following recommendations: The School Teachers' Review Body has recommended a 2.9 per cent. increase in teachers' pay. The Senior Salaries Review Body has recommended:

(i) an increase of 2.75 per cent. in the budget for performance-related pay for civil servants at grades 2 and 3, and a 2.75 per cent. increase in the pay of Permanent Secretaries.
(ii) A 2.75 per cent. increase in the pay of most of the senior armed forces officers in its remit.
(iii) A 2.75 per cent. increase in the pay of the judiciary.

The Armed Forces Pay Review Body has recommended a range of increases between 3.0 and 4.4 per cent. averaging 3.6 per cent, for the various ranks in its remit group. The Doctors and Dentists Review Body has recommended a 3.0 per cent. increase in salaries, fees and allowances for doctors and dentists and the same increase in intended average net remuneration for general medical practitioners. The Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine has recommended a 3.0 per cent. increase in national salary rates and a 2.0 per cent. increase in most leads and allowances.

The Government have taken its decisions on these recommendations on the basis of its policy on public sector pay. Except in the case of the armed forces, the Government accept the above increases and propose to implement them from the due date of 1 April. The costs will be met from the public expenditure totals published at Budget time. There will be no new money to finance these pay increases, and for the second year running there will be no call on the reserve.

In the case of the armed forces, the Government believe that the recommendations of the armed forces pay review body are too high to be implemented in full from 1 April. All ranks will receive pay increases of 2.7 per cent. from 1 April 1994, with the blance of the recommended awards paid from 1 January 1995.

The review body for nursing staff, midwives, health visitors and professions allied to medicine commented that, if the trusts had been ready to implement local pay, it would have recommended an increase in national pay rates for its remit groups of only 2 per cent. rather than 3 per cent., with further increases to be determined locally. The doctors and dentists review body similarly expressed support for moves towards local pay determination. The Government welcome and support these comments and intend to ensure that pay arrangements in both trusts and directly managed units in the NHS provide for a significant measure of local pay determination from next year. The necessary details will be discussed with the trusts and with the professions and with the staff sides in the coming months.

The senior salaries review body has restated its 1992 recommendation that possible future problems in maintaining its remit groups, particularly the judiciary, should be avoided by raising their pay levels over time. The review body has now recommended that the Government should seek to implement its 1992 recommendations for the judiciary plus annual uprating by 1 April 1999. The Government have already acknowledged the different position of the judiciary amongst the review 849W body's remit groups and accepts this recommendation. The Government are currently considering a number of issues relating to the management of the senior civil service and the military. In that context it will take a view on the SSRB's recommendations on pay ranges for senior civil servants and the differential between one and two star officers.

The review body reports point the way to making further progress in extending performance-related pay in the public services. The doctors and dentists review body and the review body for nursing staff, midwives, health visitors and professions allied to medicine expressed support for developing performance pay at local level and urged that high priority should be given to establishing suitable arrangements in the coming year. The performance pay arrangements recommended last year by the school teachers review body have now been implemented and the review body intends to return to the issue of relating the pay of teachers still more closely to their performance. The senior salaries review body recommends reform of the performance pay scheme for grades 2 and 3 in the civil service through abolition of a standard pay increase, a larger performance pay budget and an increase in the width of pay ranges. The armed forces pay review body has appointed management consultants to assist it in addressing the issue of performance pay in its future work.

The Government support the review body recommendations on the development of performance-related pay and believe that they represent a valuable and effective contribution to the further development of remuneration in the public services.

1994 Review body recommendations
		Cost¹
	Range of pay increases Per cent.	£ million	Per cent.
Schoolteachers (STRB)	2.9	309	2.9
Senior Civil Servants, Military and Judiciary (SSRB)
CS Grades 1–3	2.75	1.3	2.75
Senior military	2.75	0.3	2.75
Judiciary	2.75	3.6	2.75
Total SSRB groups	2.75	5.2	2.75
Armed Forces	3.0–4.4	206	3.6
Doctors and dentists (DDRB)	3.0	158	3.0
Nurses and allied professions (NAPRB)
Nurses and midwives	3.0	234	3.0
PAMs	3.0	26	3.0
Total NAPRB groups	3.0	260	3.0
¹Costs include employers national insurance and superannuation payments to funded schemes.