HC Deb 19 June 1978 vol 952 cc52-3W
Mr. Maurice Macmillan

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) further to his answer to the right hon. Member for Farnham on 3rd May, if his Department yet has details of the number of companies which have altered pay agreements over the past six months in order to bring them into conformity with the Government's guidelines where a productivity element was part of a pay agreement but where the anticipated growth in productivity has not materialised;

(2) further to his answer to the right hon. Member for Farnham on 3rd May, how many pay agreements containing productivity agreements have proved not to have a genuine productivity element and against how many firms involved in such agreements his Department has felt it necessary to use the discretionary powers referred to in paragraph 16 of the White Paper "The Attack on Inflation after 31st July 1977".

Mr. Harold Walker

My Department carries out inquiries into the operation of firms' productivity schemes. So far these have not established any cases of failure to satisfy the self-financing criteria, but the monitoring programme will continue.

Mr. Maurice Macmillan

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the cost to his Department of monitoring pay agreements to check whether they are in line with the Government's guidelines over the past 11 months; how many staff have been involved in this work; and how many staff have been engaged in enforcing the use of the Govment's discretionary powers against firms which have broken the pay guidelines.

Mr. Harold Walker

Apart from the public sector, which is primarily the responsibility of the sponsoring Departments, my Department currently employs 81 staff who are mainly concerned with giving advice on the application of pay policy to particular negotiations, drawing attention, where appropriate, to the Government's discretionary powers, and who also monitor settlements in the private sector. This involves a total cost, at an annual rate, of £1,002,000.

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