§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment why the United Kingdom has not ratified convention 131 of the International Labour Organisation.
§ Mr. NichollsInternational Labour Organisation convention 131 concerns "Minimum Wage Fixing with particular reference to Developing Countries". The convention was not ratified when first adopted in 1970, because, as its title indicates, it is specially directed at the situation in developing countries and its provisions were considered less appropriate to industrialised countries with a long tradition of determining wages by individual or collective bargaining. The present Government consider that wage determination is primarily a matter to be settled between employers and employees, and that ratification of the convention would not in any case be appropriate for the United Kingdom.