PAY OF THE HIGHER CIVIL SERVICE (Hansard, 11 July 1969)

§ THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (LORD SHACKLETON)

The Standing Advisory Committee on the Pay of the Higher Civil Service under the Chairmanship of Lord Plowden has recommended in its Ninth Report new rates of pay for the Higher Civil Service. (Copies of the Report are available in the Printed Paper Office.)

The Committee's main recommendations are that the salary of Permanent Secretaries should be increased from its present rate of £8,600 to £14,000; that of Deputy Secretaries from £6,300 to £9,000; and that of Under Secretaries from £5,500 to £6,750. The Committee also proposes that the central pay increase of 5 per cent. received by lower grades in the Administrative, Executive and Clerical classes should be given to the Assistant Secretary grade.

The Committee considers these rates to be the minimum necessary to reflect the responsibilities of the Higher Civil Service by comparison with similar positions in private industry and the nationalised industries, to ensure a continued supply of recruits of the right quality and to 1388WA facilitate structural changes in the interest of greater efficiency. In framing its recommendations, the Committee took full account of the Report on Top Salaries by the National Board for Prices and Incomes (Cmnd. 3970).

The Government are satisfied that the proposed new rates are right in principle and should be implemented when the requirements of incomes policy allow. The Committee have proposed a method of implementing the increases by stages and the Government accept that the first stage increase recommended by the Committee should be implemented from July 1, 1969, since this is within the ceiling of 31 per cent. a year for the period since the last pay increase for the Higher Civil Service on September 1, 1965. On this basis the rates for Permanent Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries and Under Secretaries will be £9,800, £7,100 and £6,000 respectively. The Government also accept the proposal to give the 5 per cent. central pay increase to Assistant Secretaries from July I, 1969.

The salaries of the Lower Judiciary are revised periodically in the light of movements in the salaries of higher civil servants in the appropriate range. In some cases a Statutory Order is needed to give effect to such increases and an Order dealing with consequential first stage increases will be laid before both Houses of Parliament immediately.

The rest of the increases recommended by the Committee will need to be considered in the light of the developments in incomes policy over the next two years. The Government will review the situation in the light of those developments.

More generally, the Government have decided that the arrangements for determining pay in the public sector in its widest sense should be more closely coordinated. Some parts are at present covered by separate bodies, while others have no such formal arrangements. The revised arrangements will envisage giving the N.B.P.I. a more central role and consideration will also have to be given to what changes to the N.B.P.I. are necessary in order to enable it to carry out this new role. There will be full consultation with all those concerned before any change is made.

House adjourned at twenty-three minutes before four o'clock.