§ Sir R. Glynasked the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence whether, seeing that all civilian craftsmen, civil engineers. clerks of works, draftsmen, etc., employed by Service Departments should not be in receipt of uniform rates of pay rather than at different rates, which causes discontent and is detrimental to the Department paying on the lower scale for similar work, steps can be taken to level up the rates of pay of those who accepted Government service early in 1936 to be at least equal to those now being engaged by the Air Ministry, many of whom are not so highly skilled as those who first joined?
§ Sir T. InskipIn general a uniform rate of pay is fixed for each class of civilian craftsmen employed by the Admiralty in Naval Establishments in this country outside the London area. The rates of civilian craftsmen employed by the other Service Departments vary according to2686W the localities in which they are employed in sympathy with the variations in local levels of wages, but the civilian craftsmen of one Service Department do not normally receive higher rates of pay than comparable civilian craftsmen employed in the same locality by the other Service Departments. As regards civil engineers, clerks of works and draftsmen, in so far as these grades are common to more than one of the Service Departments substantially the same scales of salary are prescribed for them. As regards temporary appointments to these grades at rates above the minima of the respective permanent scales, steps have been taken to ensure that the same standard is applied in all three Departments. It is not a fact that higher salaries are being paid by the Air Ministry to those now being engaged than to those who were engaged early in 1936, or than those which are being paid by the Admiralty and War Office to those now being engaged by them with equivalent qualifications.