§ Mr. Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many civil servants were in receipt of £1,000 per annum in 1946; how many of these have not received an increase in their salaries since this date; and what number of this class of civil servant is expected to meet the cost of the stationery, postage, telephone, travelling expenses, living away from home expenses, secretarial assistance and other necessary expenses incurred to carry out satisfactorily their duties to the State from their Civil Service salaries;
(2) the number of civil servants in the £1,000 per annum class in 1946; how many of these have received no increases in their salaries since this date; and what was the average increase paid to those that have had their salaries advanced.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterAs I told the hon. Member on 25th April and 7th May, 1952, on 31st October, 1947, the earliest date for which reliable statistics are available, there were 8,504 established civil servants in receipt of salaries of £1,000 a year or more. I also told him that the average increase since 1946 in the salaries of the many different grades concerned could not be calculated without a disproportionate expenditure of time and 137W labour and that its result would be quite meaningless. On these points I have nothing to add to those answers.
Since civil servants, except those of the highest grades, are normally remunerated by scales of salary and not fixed rates, the number whose salary happens to be, at any particular date, at the precise rate of £1000 per annum or any other particular figure is of no significance. All salary scales which in 1946 include £1,000 within their range have since been increased. No civil servant normally has to meet from his salary the expenses mentioned in the latter part of the first Question.
§ Mr. Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the number of staff in the office of the Prime Minister who were, in April, 1946, in receipt of £1,000 per annum; how many of these have not received an increase since this date; what, on average, has been the percentage increase in salaries of the remainder and all other staff in his Department; and how many of these have to meet the cost of postage, telephones, secretarial assistance and other expenses necessary to carry out their duties to the State from their State salaries.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThere is nothing I can usefully add to the answer I have given to the hon. Member today on this topic in relation to the Civil Service in general.