§ Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how, in the current stage of pay policy, the principles contained in his reply to the honourable member for Woolwich, East (Mr. Cartwright)—Official Report, 3rd December 1976, col. 300—apply in calculating the total salary bill increase and ascertaining whether it falls within the Government's pay guidelines;
(2) whether any increase in the average salary of a pay group due to the creation of new jobs filled by either the promotion of existing workers or the recruitment of new employees counts against the Government's pay limit increase.
§ Mr. Harold Walker,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 3rd February 1978; Vol. 943, c. 335], gave the following information:
Unlike last year, the Government's pay policy is expressed in terms of average earnings increases and not individual pay limits. As before, individual employees who carry out identifiable and significant additional responsibilities may be paid the appropriate rate in terms of the existing pay structure. Generally speaking, the cost will need to be taken into account in any settlement for the group to which they belong, but this is unlikely to be of any practical effect, so long as the settlement is well within single figures.