§ 61. Dr. Glynasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she has any plans to make an offer to university lecturers and teachers to rectify their pay anomaly, which has been recognised by the Government, and to give it similar treatment to the claim made by 610W the air traffic control assistants and the firemen; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the principle introduced into the air traffic control assistants' and the firemen's pay disputes will be followed in resolving university teachers' pay dispute.
§ Mr. OakesI refer the hon. Member and my hon. Friend to the answer my right hon. Friend gave to the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) on 17th January.—[Vol. 942, c.177.]
§ Mr. Ifor Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what increase in salary would be required for a university professor to bring him up to a level at which he would maintain relativity with the index of average earnings and the retail price index as at April 1964;
(2) what increase in salary would be required at (a) the top of the university lecturer scale and (b) the top of the university senior lecturer scale in order to bring such salaries up to a level at which relativity would be maintained with the index of average earnings and the retail price index, as at April 1964.
§ Mr. OakesThe increases required to bring university teachers' salaries payable since 1st October 1976 up to a level at which relativity would be established with the increase in the Department of Employment's monthly index of average earnings—older series—and the retail prices index between April 1964 and October 1977 are, respectively, as follows:
Earnings index Prices index £ £ Lecturer (maximum) 4,134 1,789 Senior Lecturer (maximum) 6,047 3,005 Professor (average)* 8,600 4,669 * Each university is free to fix salaries of individual professors, subject to a prescribed minimum, in conformity with a prescribed upper limit on the average of such salaries.
§ Mr. McCuskerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she intends to apply the principle of staging for rectification of recognised anomalies in the case of university teachers' pay.
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§ Mr. Eyreasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what firm commitment will be entered into by the Government to rectify the anomalies existing with regard to the pay of university teachers.
§ Mr. Crouchasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement regarding the anomaly concerning university teachers' pay; and what steps she proposes to take to correct it.
§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what precise steps she envisages as being appropriate to honour the Government's pledge to rectify the university teachers' pay anomaly.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsIn answer to Questions from the hon. Members for Somerset, North (Mr. Dean), Uxbridge (Mr. Shersby) and Birmingham, Edgbaston (Mrs. Knight) on 21st November 1977—[Vol. 939, c. 509]—I explained the underlying cause of the anomaly in university teachers' pay in relation to that of teachers engaged in comparable work in further education establishments. The Government have given a clear commitment to rectify the anomaly as soon as pay policy permits. The Government's current policy allows for the most serious difficulties only to be tackled this year, if necessary on a phased basis, and taking full account of the need to keep the total settlement within single figures. What scope this policy offers for progress towards remedying the pay anomaly for university teachers has not yet been resolved, but the timing of its rectification is undoubtedly one of the questions for discussion in the negotiations now taking place between representatives of the university authorities and of the university teachers and officials of my Department. The hon. Members will not expect me to anticipate the outcome of those negotiations.
§ Mr. Carsonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when university teachers can expect to receive firm details of salary scales covering the period from 1st October 1977.
§ Mr. OakesDetails will be published at the conclusion of the negotiatons which are now in hand.
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§ Mr. Ronald Bellasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in the current negotiations concerning the pay of university teachers, due account is being taken of the substantial increase in the number of students which has occurred in the present academic year unaccompanied by any appreciable increase in teaching staffs.
§ Mr. OakesI am confident that the representatives of the university authorities and of the university teachers who are engaged in negotiations will take account of all the factors they consider relevant.