§ 28. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement on the Government's intentions regarding the proposals to increase police pay by 10.3 per cent. and whether any increased pay will be tied to increased productivity and efficiency as with increases awarded to other public servants.
§ Mr. Raison:My right hon. Friend announced on 6 August that he had accepted the police negotiating board's recommendation that police pay should be increased by 10.3 per cent. At the same time, he said he had decided that the pension contributions for all ranks should be increased. The net increase in police pay was therefore 5.6 per cent. Chief officers are constantly seeking ways to improve the efficiency of their forces and my right hon. Friend has asked Her Majesty's inspectors of constabulary to promote good practice and improvements in the effective use of resources. But it would not be appropriate to link such changes with national pay scales.