§ 17. Mr. Norman HoggTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the effect on the level of his Department's expenditure on benefits of the proposed public sector pay norm.
§ Miss WiddecombeWe are unable to identify separately numbers of potential beneficiaries who work in the public sector. However, the effect of the policy for public sector pay announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement was taken into account when assumptions about future earnings for the whole economy were made for the purpose of forecasting benefit expenditure.