HC Deb 27 June 1939 vol 349 cc230-1W
Mr. Hutchinson

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the number of clerical officers, male, S-class clerks, paper keepers and messengers, who are being transferred to the new office at Hayes, Middlesex; the names of the Departments from which such staff is being transferred; and what are the losses in pay which will be sustained by such officers; and whether he will give instructions that, pending investigation into the nature of these transfers, the staff concerned shall continue to receive London rates of pay?

Captain Crookshank

Officers of the grades mentioned are being transferred from London to Hayes, Middlesex, by the Ministry of Pensions and the Board of Inland Revenue, the total numbers being as follow:

Clerical Officers (Male) … 14
S-class Clerks … 29
Paper Keepers … 34
Messengers, etc. … 7
74

The arrangements applicable in cases of transfer between scales to which a regu- lated system of provincial differentiation applies, as in the cases in point, are laid down in an Agreement of 12th July, 1935, with the Staff Side of the National Whitley Council. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of this Agreement. In cases where provincial differentiation applies officers on transfer from London to a provincial centre are placed on a provincial scale of pay somewhat lower than the London scale. They retain, however, their London rate, unless it exceeds the provincial maximum, until it is overtaken by their provincial rate. Under this arrangement there will be no immediate loss of pay in 36 of the above cases. Of the remaining officers, whose London rate exceeds the appropriate provincial maximum, 12 are clerical officers and 26 are paper keepers and messengers. The deductions in pay range up to £30 per annum for the former and from is. to 3s. a week for the latter.

The arrangements which are being applied are in accordance with the terms of the Agreement to which I have referred, and I regret that I am unable to agree that the officers now in question should be excluded from its provisions. I may add that representations have been made on the subject by the staff interests concerned, with whom the matter in its various aspects is under discussion.