§ Mr. Woodallasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) whether employers who begin after 1st August 1978 to pay workers for time off in accordance with the Employment Protection Act, are expected to offset such payments against the 5 per cent. limit applying from that date;
(2) whether pay increases to reflect significantly new work or new responsibility such as work on new and different machinery should be costed and contained within the overall 5 per cent. limit that applies from 1st August 1978;
(3) which of the small number of cases covered by paragraph 15 of the White Paper "Winning the Battle Against Inflation" for whom exceptional increases were agreed will be entitled to receive phase 4 5 per cent. increase in addition to those exceptional increases.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerI shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Woodallasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many productivity deals have been vetted since 1st August 1977; and how many have been rejected as non-self financing.
92Wearnings, per week of their pay periods, including overtime, bonuses and other additional payments. They reflect differences in industrial and occupational structures between regions rather than differences in earnings for comparable work.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerSince 1st August 1977 my Department has been informed of about 1,500 deals. My Department's advice has often led to proposals being modified or concluded schemes being renegotiated in order to ensure that they are self-financing. But detailed information on the number of such cases is not readily available.