§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will compare the net value of the recent wage increase of 13 per cent. to a farm worker earning the basic rate, assuming he has a wife and two children and is paying rent of £6 per week and rates of £2 per week, with the net value of the 14 per cent. increase in benefit of a man when unemployed, assuming he has similar circumstances, after allowing for tax and national insurance deductions and any welfare payments to which they are entitled and taking account of the fact that the farm worker is already paying tax.
§ Mr. John GrantThe matters raised would be ones for detailed reply by my right hon. Friends the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Social Services. I understand, however, that the Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales has not yet made an award and no valid comparison can therefore be made at this stage.