HC Deb 16 October 1946 vol 427 cc191-2W
Mr. Janner

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what extent salaries for scientific and veterinary staff in the Colonies are to be increased so as to have a proper relationship between the increased salaries now being paid to such staff in the British Civil Service; and whether in view of the urgent need for recruiting sufficient scientific and veterinary staff for the Colonies at the earliest opportunity, he can make a statement that will facilitate such recruitment.

Mr. Creech Jones

I can assure my hon. Friend that the recruiting needs of the scientific and veterinary staffs of the Colonies are very much in my mind, and I fully recognise the importance of offering fair and adequate terms if those needs are to be satisfied. Most Colonial Governments have recently been reviewing their salary schemes or are about to do so, and in these reviews full regard is paid to the salaries prevailing for comparable posts in the home Civil Service. Home salaries are, of course, only one of the many factors that arise in these Colonial salary reviews. Regard must also be had to the rates of pay of one technical service in a Colony as compared with another. But I am alive to the question of facilitating recruitment.