§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Labour if she will list the individual references now being examined by the National Board for Prices and Incomes, showing the dates of the reference and expected report.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerA list of the references currently before the National 29W Board for Prices and Incomes, with the dates on which they were gazetted, is set out below.
The Prices and Incomes Act, 1966 requires the Board's reports to be published within three months of the date the re-
General Title of Reference Date of Gazetting Statutory time-limit where extended Payment by Results Systems 23rd March, 1967 22nd June, 1968 Job Evaluation Schemes 23rd March, 1967 22nd June, 1968 Architects' Costs and Fees 11th April, 1967 10th June, 1968 Pay and Conditions of Manual Workers in the Engineering Industry 16th May, 1967 *29th April, 1968 Pay and Conditions of Staff Workers in the Engineering Industry 16th May, 1967 *29th April, 1968 Distributors' Costs and Margins on Furniture, Domestic Electrical Appliances and Footwear 17th August, 1967 16th May, 1968 Proposed increases by British Railways Board in certain Country-wide Fares and Charges 5th October, 1967 4th May, 1968 Gas Prices 5th October, 1967 †4th October, 1968 Increases in Rents of Local Authority Housing 12th December, 1967 5th May, 1968 Costs and Prices of the Chocolate and Sugar Confectionery Industry 4th January, 1968 3rd June, 1968 An Agreement and an Award relating to terms and conditions of employment in the Road Passenger Transport Industry 27th January, 1968 — Passenger Fares and Freight Charges of the North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Shipping Co. 30th January, 1968 — Domestic Appliances 13th February, 1968 — Mercury Hearing-Aid Batteries 13th February, 1968 — Price of Butyl Rubber 16th February, 1968 — Agreements relating to terms and conditions of employment of draughtsmen in certain companies in the Engineering Industry 20th February, 1968 — An Agreement relating to terms and conditions of employment of clerical staff employed by the Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd. 22nd March, 1968 — An Agreement relating to terms and conditions of employment of clerical staff employed by the Pearl Assurance Co. Ltd. 22nd March, 1968 — Office Staff Employment Agencies: Charges and salaries 22nd March, 1968 — Rental Charges for Equipment hired from I.B.M. U.K. Ltd. 1968 11th April, 1968 — * First Report already published: extension being gazetted this week in respect of second report. † First report already published. In addition, an instruction has been issued to the Board under Section 3(2) of the Prices and Incomes Act, 1966, to keep under continuous review the remuneration of the academic staff of universities and the pay allowances, pensions and gratuities of members of the naval, military and air forces of the Crown and of any women's service administered by the Defence Council. No specific time limit is set for the submission of reports by the Board. In the absence of a Ministerial instruction to furnish a report, the Board is required to report from time to time as it thinks fit.
The Board hopes that reports in respect of about half of the above subjects will be published within the next two months.
30Wference was gazetted unless the statutory time-limit is extended under section 5(4) of this Act by the Minister or Ministers concerned. Where such extensions have been made, the new statutory time-limit is also shown.