§ 51. Mr. Cooperasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in view of the application for increases in pay in the Civil Service, if he will take steps to relate more closely the hours of work of the Civil Service to those of the workers in industry, so that the industrial workers are not placed at an unfair disadvantge compared with the Civil Service, whose basic hours of work, excluding lunch intervals, are only 40½ per week, coupled with a month's holiday a year.
§ Sir S. CrippsI cannot accept my hon. Friend's premises. It is certainly not the case that either the basic hours or the actual hours in the Civil Service are shorter than those in comparable occupations. The Service is voluntarily working an emergency standard week of 45½ hours gross which is above its normal obligation. Leave varies with grade and length of service; but large numbers of civil ser-26W vants have less than 24 days leave a year. Those who have more normally work considerable overtime without pay.