§ Mr. BIGLANDasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that, although on 27th June, 1910, he stated in the House that 405W first-class clerks and all other officers of the Local Government Board had been accorded equality of treatment with their colleagues in the Home Office and the Foreign Office, the inferior scales of pay which existed at the Local Government Board prior to the elevation of its status are still in operation as regards all the first-class clerks and all the principal clerks, with one exception; and whether he can inform the House of the estimated annual saving which the Treasury has effected by this economy?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe Prime Minister has asked me to answer this question. The facts as regards the scales of the principal clerks and first-class clerks are as stated by the hon. Member. He has, however, only quoted part of the Prime Minister's statement of 17th June, 1910, the purport of which was that the salaries of officers of the Local Government Board as whole had been raised to the level prevailing in the Departments of the various Secretaries of State. For the reasons given in my answer to the hon. Member of 13th instant it is not possible to compare the duties performed and salaries paid in various Departments grade by grade, but I am satisfied that taken as a whole the salaries of the higher grades of the Local Government Board are substantially on a level with those of the Department referred to, and that there is no question of any economy effected by the Treasury.