§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's attitude to the six reforms in wages council and Wages Inspectorate operation advocated by the Law Pay Unit in its pamphlet "Policing Low Wages".
§ Mr. John GrantI have been sent a copy of the Low Pay Unit's recent pamphlet. I am studying the report and I propose to discuss the recommendations with the unit in due course.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will change 698W the target set by his Department of routine inspections by the Wages Inspectorate from 7½ per cent. of firms to 15 per cent. of firms; and, if not, why not.
§ Mr. John GrantI have no plans at present to increase the target to 15 per cent. because of the number of staff required. We naturally seek to make the most effective use of existing staff resources.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if members of the Low Pay Unit were required to sign the Official Secrets Act during their recent study of the Wages Inspectorate; and, if so, why.
§ Mr. John GrantNo, but in accordance with the normal practice, the unit's researcher signed a declaration under the Act when, on a previous occasion, he was given facilities in the Department to extract statistical information about wages inspection for a private research project.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if the Wages Inspectorate attempted to have the conclusions of the recent report of the Low Pay Unit changed in any way.
§ Mr. John GrantNo attempt was made to change the recommendations in the report. When invited by the Low Pay Unit to comment on the draft report the Wages Inspectorate pointed out that the report contained certain misrepresentations of the inspectorate's activities.