§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the occasions since 1979 when he has written to chairmen of wages councils about the proposed level of wage settlements in the respective wages council.
§ Mr. NichollsThe then Secretary of State wrote to the chairman of the retail food and allied trades and the retail trades (non-food) wages councils on 25 February 1983, and to the chairmen of the unlicensed place of refreshment and the licensed residential establishment and licensed restaurant wages councils on 9 and 17 August 1983 respectively, about proposals published by those councils for increases in statutory minimum rates. I regret that mention of the latest of these letters was omitted from the reply to the hon. Member given on 27 October 1986,Official Report at columns 43–44.