§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he plans to take in the light of the failure of the Hastings computer whereby weekly wage industrial civil servants were overpaid by his Department with the full knowledge of his departmental officials and if he will ensure that such weekly-paid industrial civil servants employed by his Department receive their normal weekly wage pending discussions between him and the unions representing the weekly paid industrial civil servants to resolve the problems.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergIndustrial action by non-industrial staff who normally operate the payroll computer at Hastings led to overpayments being made to industrial employees. Arrangements are being made for employees, who would otherwise suffer hardship generally, to repay at the rate of £5 a week. This should cover all but a few hundred cases for which special arrangements will have to be made.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many industrial civil servants employed by his 558W Department were overpaid by the Department due to the failure of the Hastings computer; what is the sum of the money outstanding; and what was the average overpayment.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergSome 11,700 industrial civil servants were overpaid not due to the failure of the computer but to strike action by the operators of the Hastings computer. Approximately £800,00 was involved and the average overpayment was £68.