§ 73. Mr. Biffenasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity what is the estimated number of local 199W agreements in the engineering industry expected to be negotiated under the productivity guidelines of the national engineering industry award; by what means she will be informed of these awards; and how many staff will be required to confirm their consistence with the Government's prices and incomes policy.
Mr. WalkerA large measure of agreement was reached between the parties in the recent discussions at my Department but a final settlement was not concluded. Any domestic agreements reached as a result of the proposed productivity guidelines would be subject to the requirements of the productivity, prices and incomes policy. Under the existing early warning arrangements set out in the White Paper (Cmnd. 3590) there is provision for information on a voluntary basis about claims and settlements to be notified to my Department but at the present time it is not possible to estimate the number of such agreements likely to be notified as the result of the provisions of any national engineering settlement.
It is not expected that any increase will be needed in the number of staff who examine proposals for pay increases.