§ Mr. BANFIELDasked the Minister of Labour whether Grade 111 S-clerks and temporary clerks in his Department are engaged upon the payment of unemployment insurance benefit; what is the scale of pay of those staffs in provincial Employment Exchanges; and whether, in the event of errors occurring involving shortages of cash, any deductions are made from the wages of these clerks?
§ Mr. McENTEEasked the Minister of Labour what was the total amount deducted from the wages of members of his staff during the last 12 months for which records are conveniently available in respect of cash shortages in connection with unemployment insurance benefit payments; and how many of such staffs were receiving less than 70s. per week?
§ Sir H. BETTERTON:Grade 111 clerks are not employed regularly on pay duties in Employment Exchanges, but they may occasionally be required to undertake them. The lowest rate of pay of those clerks in provincial Employment Exchanges is 43s. 9d. per week and the highest rate 65s. Hid. per week. In regard to cash shortages, the procedure agreed with the staff side of the Departmental Whitley Council provides that a pay clerk shall not be held liable to refund a cash shortage unless his record of errors is substantially worse than the average. In the result no refund is called for in about 95 per cent. of the cases; in the remaining cases the pay clerk is called upon after a decision by a divisional committee to refund the shortage, wholly or in part. In general, a refund does not exceed 5 per cent. of a single week's pay. In the 12 months ended 30th September, 1932, there were about 37,000 cash shortages of this kind and the total amount refunded by pay clerks of all grades was about £280. It is not possible without undue labour to ascertain how many of the officers concerned were receiving less than 70s. a week.