§ Mr. Peter Griffithsasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will encourage the early settlement of the pay claim for 1979 made by the scientific and technical grades civil servants which is adversely affecting industrial relations at the Portsmouth naval dockyard.
§ Mr. ChannonMost certainly. I am as anxious as my hon. Friend that pay settlements for the Civil Service scientific and professional staff should be reached as soon as possible. I have offered the scientists precisely what they have claimed—a pay link with administrative civil servants—providing only that we can reach an agreement which avoids repercussions or misunderstandings in the future. The professional and technology grades have been offered pay increases based on exactly the same principles as the increases offered to and accepted by other unions on behalf of other civil servants. If the union cannot accept the offer, the proper way to resolve the dispute is for the matter to be put to the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal whose award the Government would accept. I am sure my hon. Friend will join me in urging the union to take that course and to end its totally unjustified industrial action.