§ Mr. Brightasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will publish the statistical criteria by which holidays, pensions, health schemes, and cars received by employees in private industry are compared to benefits in the Civil Service by the Civil Service pay research unit.
§ Mr. ChannonThe Civil Service pay research unit provides full data on benefits including holidays, pensions, health schemes and cars received by employees in the outside "analogue" organisations used for comparison purposes. In the subsequent negotiations between the official side and the union side Civil Service pay rates are adjusted to reflect the difference between the benefits and conditions of service inside and outside372W the Civil Service, according to criteria laid down in the Civil Service pay agreement a copy of which is available in the Library.
The Government announced on 27 October that the Civil Service pay agreement, and the pay research procedures governed by it, would be suspended for the April 1981 Civil Service settlement. The settlement will be based on the cash limit for 1981–82.
§ Mr. Brightasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will publish the criteria by which civil servants' pay is compared to that in private industry by the Civil Service pay research unit.
§ Mr. ChannonThe criteria are set out in the terms of reference for the director of the Civil Service pay research unit, which are published in the 1980 report of the Civil Service pay research unit board and the Civil Service pay research unit. A copy of the report is in the Library.
§ Mr. Brightasked the Minister for the Civil Service how many organisations surveyed by the Civil Service pay research unit objected to the publication of findings in summary form prior to the 1980 pay negotiations.
§ Mr. ChannonThe information was published in summary form after the 1980 pay negotiations had been concluded. None of the organisations concerned objected.
§ Mr. Brightasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will make available to hon. Members the comparability studies prepared for the Whitley Council by the Civil Service pay research unit during the last round of negotiations.
§ Mr. ChannonThe 1980 report of the Civil Service pay research unit board and the Civil Service pay research unit provides information from the studies in summary form. The detailed information prepared by the unit on the pay of individual jobs in outside organisations is provided by these organisations on a confidential basis.
§ Mr. Brightasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will list the average salaries of the groups used for comparison with the clerical assistant, clerical officer, executive officer, higher 373W executive officer and senior executive officer grades of the Civil Service in the last report of the Civil Service pay research unit.
§ Mr. ChannonUnder the Civil Service pay agreement, the salaries of these grades are based upon the median, not the average, of the pay rates for comparable work outside reported by the Civil Service pay research unit. The median rate is adjusted to take account of differences in benefits and conditions of service between the Civil Service and the outside organisations. The current Civil Service salary scales for these grades agreed in April 1980 are:
*Clerical assistant (junior scale) £41.91–53.22 (main scale) £59.13–72.60 Clerical officer (junior scale) £2,396–3,362 (main scale) £3,688–4,740 Executive officer £3,775–6,745 Higher executive officer £6,950–8,555 Senior executive officer £8,600–10,500 *Weekly rates.