§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the comparability of wages and working conditions over the years between the police and the firemen, he will arrange for any police pay increases to be paid to firemen as well.
§ Dr. SummerskillNo. Pay and conditions of service of firemen are matters for the national joint council for local authorities' fire brigades. On 17th January 1978, the council registered agreement on a formula for increasing the pay of firemen by stages to provide comparability in November 1979 between the average earnings of firemen and those of the upper quartile of adult male manual workers.