§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence what have been the percentage increases over preceding years in average output per operative hour in Royal Ordnance factories as a whole between 1965 and 1968.
1965 1966 1967 1968 R.O.F. Birtley … 1,404 1,692 1,854 1,842 R.O.F. Bishopton … 1,473 1,706 1,955 2,251 R.O.F. Blackburn … 2,510 2,685 2,825 2,786 R.O.F. Bridgwater … 714 717 801 923 R.O.F. Chorley … 2,619 2,757 2,850 2,758 R.S.A.F. Enfield … 1,501 1,493 1,423 1,382 R.O.F. Glascoed … 1,679 1,838 1,910 1,813 R.O.F. Leeds … 1,374 1,587 1,697 1,901 R.O.F. Nottingham … 1,093 1,198 1,237 1,317 R.O.F. Patricroft … 1,379 1,553 1,663 1,689 R.O.F. Radway Green … 2,033 2,366 2,503 2,562 R.O.F. Ranskill … 54 36 26 24 R.O.F. Woolwich … 2,469 1,565 657 — R.O.F. Pembrey … 377 — — — Canteen workers and Army Department Constabulary are not included.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will specify, and itemise separately, the elements in cost of manufacture for all Royal Ordnance factories taken together, for the two latest consecutive years for which figures are available, on the lines set out in paragraph 42 of Command Paper No. 3931.
§ Mr. BoydenThe appropriate elements are:
1966–67 (£m.) 1967–68 (£m.) Power 1.7 2.0 Services 6.9 7.0 Raw materials, componentsetc 9.2 9.7 Free issues, embodiment loan, etc 22.3 26.3 Wages 5.4 5.4 Salaries 14.9 15.8 Pensions etc. 2.2 2.4
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the extent of wage
30W
§ Mr. BoydenThe percentage increase in average output per operative hour compared with the previous financial year is:
1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 8.6 9.0 5.7 The percentages have been derived from annual ratios of sales (adjusted to take account of work in progress) to productive man hours.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence what have been the total numbers of workers employed in each Royal Ordnance factory, listed separately, for the years 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968.
§ Mr. BoydenThe numbers of non-industrial and industrial employees in the Royal Ordnance Factories administered by the Ministry of Defence at 1st January each year were:
drift in Royal Ordnance factories, in aggregate, and listed separately, in each year between 1965 and 1968.
§ Mr. BoydenWages paid at the factories totalled £14,114,564 in the financial year 1965–66, £14,862,146 in 1966–67 and £15,752,023 in 1967–68. Detailed information is not available identifying those elements of the annual changes properly attributable to wage drift.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence by how much, on hourly and percentage average, the actual working week exceeded, or fell short of, the standard week in all Royal Ordnance factories listed separately for the years 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968; and what proportion of the overtime worked was worked on Sundays.
§ Mr. BoydenIn the Royal Ordnance Factories under Ministry of Defence control the actual working week exceeded 31W the standard 40-hour week by the following amounts and percentages:—
1965 1966 1967 1968 hours per cent. hours per cent. hours per cent. hours per cent. R.O.F. Birtley … … 7.5 19 5.6 14 4.5 11 4.8 12 R.O.F. Bishopton … … 5.6 13 9.7 23 9.8 23 3.7 9 R.O.F. Blackburn … … 1.8 5 0.9 2 1.4 4 1.2 3 R.O.F. Bridgwater … … 11 3 1.4 3 2.7 6 2.6 6 R.O.F. Chorley … … 2.1 5 2.8 8 1.0 2 2.5 6 R.S.A.F. Enfield … … 1.8 5 2.4 6 2.0 5 2.9 7 R.O.F. Glascoed … … 1.0 2 1.2 3 0.4 1 1.1 3 R.O.F. Leeds … … 61 15 5.6 14 4.5 11 3.6 9 R.O.F. Nottingham … … 4.0 10 4.7 12 4.3 11 5.6 14 R.O.F. Patricroft … … 6.7 17 3.7 9 3.6 9 4.2 11 R.O.F. Radway Green … 1.6 4 2.8 7 1.0 5 2.5 6 These details refer to a single week in October each year.
Sunday overtime was not worked at Royal Ordnance Factories Bridgwater, Glascoed or Radway Green. Over the past four years, Sunday overtime at the other Royal Ordnance Factories, expressed as a percentage of total overtime, was:
R.O.F. Birtley, about 35 per cent.R.O.F. Bishopton, none in 1965 or 1966; 24 per cent. thereafter.R.O.F. Blackburn, 36 per cent. in 1965; thereafter about 16 per cent.R.O.F. Chorley, 8 per cent.R.S.A.F. Enfield, 2 per cent.R.O.F. Leeds, 48 per cent. in 1965; thereafter
1965 1966 1967 1968 R.O.F. Birtley … … +283 + 147 − 29 + 33 R.O.F. Bishopton … … + 239 + 230 +265 −284 R.O.F. Blackburn … … + 144 + 136 − 57 −148 R.O.F. Bridgwater … … + 9 + 81 + 116 − 79 R.O.F. Chorley … … + 119 + 84 −119 −205 R.S.A.F. Enfield … … −7 −84 − 42 − 55 R.O.F. Glascoed … … + 152 + 66 −112 −142 R.O.F. Leeds … … + 175 + 94 + 166 − 62 R.O.F. Nottingham … … + 82 + 21 + 75 + 104 R.O.F. Patricroft … … + 169 + 91 + 35 −105 R.O.F. Radway Green … + 326 + 128 + 46 − 16 R.O.F. Ranskill … … − 11 − 10 −2 — R.O.F. Woolwich … … −752 −716 — — R.O.F. Pembrey … … −307 — — —
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence by how much, and by what percentages, minimum earnings levels increased, and by how much and by what percentages, average earnings, both for the standard week, and for the actual working week, increased in respect of planers, millers, turners, skilled welders and semi-skilled production workers, at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Barnbow, and at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Nottingham, over the period January, 1965, to January, 1968.
Mr. HoydenThe following is the information regarding R.O.F. Leeds (Barnbow):
32Wabout 35 per cent.
R.O.F. Nottingham, about 25 per cent.
R.O.F. Patricroft, 20 per cent. in 1965 and 1966; 10 per cent. thereafter.
These figures do not include regular three-shift working on continuous processes.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence what increases in numbers of operatives employed has taken place in each year from 1965 to 1968 in each Royal Ordnance factory, listed separately.
§ Mr. BoydenAnnual variations in the numbers of industrial employees (other than canteen workers) have been:
33W
INCREASES, OVER THE PERIOD JANUARY, 1965 TO JANUARY, 1968, IN Minimum earnings: Average earnings: standard week Average earnings: actual working week £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Planers 3 18 0 7 18 0 8 17 9 (31 %) (42%) (47%) Millers 3 18 0 6 18 10 8 2 11 (31 %) (34%) (41 %) Turners 3 18 0 3 18 8 5 16 11 (31%) (19%) (26%) Skilled welders 3 18 0 11 16 2 15 15 10 (31 %) (56%) (65%) Semi-skilled welders 2 0 0 3 11 8 5 7 1 (19%) (22%) (28%) The information for R.O.F. Nottingham's employees is:
INCREASES, OVER THE PERIOD JANUARY, 1965 TO JANUARY, 1968, IN Minimum earnings: Average earnings: standard week Average earnings: actual working week £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Pianers 3 18 0 6 17 10 9 0 1 (31 %) (34%) (35%) Millers 3 18 0 5 13 1 6 18 6 (31 %) (24%) (23%) Turners 3 18 0 4 8 6 5 8 10 (31 %) (19%) (18%) Skilled welders 3 18 0 2 10 0 3 8 0 (31 %) (11%) (12%) Semi-skilled welders 1 12 0 3 11 6 5 2 10 (15%) (23%) (30%)
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence by what percentage minimum pay entitlements increased and by what percentage average earnings with overtime, and without overtime, respectively, increased for skilled workers, unskilled time-workers, skilled payment-by- result workers and unskilled payment-by- result workers at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Barnbow, and the Royal Ordnance Factory, Nottingham, between January, 1967, and January, 1968.
§ Mr. BoydenThe following is the information regarding R.O.F. Leeds
Percentage increases 1967 minimum pay entitlement average earnings with overtime average earnings without overtime Skilled time workers 10 10 10 Unskilled time workers 11 11 11 Skilled P.B.R. workers 19 10 10 Unskilled P.B.R. workers 11 7 8 The information for R.O.F. Nottingham is:
34W
Percentage increases 1967 minimum pay entitlement average earnings with overtime average earnings without overtime Skilled time workers 10 10 10 Unskilled time workers 10 11 10 Skilled P.B.R. workers 19 8 4 Unskilled P.B.R. workers 10 8 6
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish indices, using 1954 as a base of 100, to show in respect of all Royal Ordnance factories taken together the movements of wholesale prices of their total sales, of production, of wages and salaries and of the resulting labour costs per unit of output, on the lines followed by paragraph 45 of Command Paper No. 3931.
§ Mr. BoydenNo. It is very difficult to measure these movements and any figures obtained would have to be treated with extreme caution in comparison with overall broad trends.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence what changes in pay and conditions of work were introduced at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Barnbow, following the dispute and stoppage over piecework rates which occurred there in the summer of 1968.
§ Mr. BoydenNo changes were made in rates of pay or in overall conditions of work. Certain piecework prices relating to a small number of spare parts orders were reconsidered after the stoppage. Many had been in existence for a number of years and some were adjusted.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish figures to show in respect of each Royal Ordnance factory, on the latest available date, the average weekly earnings of all skilled payments-by-results workers, and the same earnings of payments-by-results workers in mechanical engineering generally on the regional or district basis most approximate to the locality of each Royal Ordance factory.
§ Mr. BoydenThe average weekly earnings in mid-1968 of skilled payments-by-results workers at the active engineering factories under the control of the Ministry of Defence were:
£. s. d. R.O.F., Birtley 28 2 11 R.O.F., Blackburn 24 15 10 R.S.A.F., Enfield 30 2 11 R.O.F., Leeds 26 8 0 R.O.F., Nottingham 26 19 2 R.O.F., Patricroft 22 18 7 R.O.F., Radway Greer 23 18 1 There is no readily available information about the wage earnings in comparable mechanical engineering firms in the localities of the Royal Ordnance Factories.