§ Mr. DoverTo ask the Prime Minister when the Government plan to publish the report by the Senior Salaries Review Body on parliamentary pay and allowances. [36025]
506W
§ The Prime MinisterThe Government have now considered report No. 38 from the Senior Salaries Review Body on parliamentary pay and allowances. The Government are grateful to the review body for undertaking this complex remit so promptly. The report is being published today—as Command Paper 3330—and copies are available from the Vote Office.
Following representations made during the Government's consultations with other parties on the report, the Government will table motions to allow the House to consider whether it wishes to implement the recommendations of the report in full.
The Government themselves, however, are clear that the recommended increases for Members' and Ministers' pay are too high and that the motions to give effect to these should not be passed in current circumstances. They will therefore oppose the motions and will table motions to bring into effect an increase in the salary of a Back-Bench Member from £34,085 to £35,108, that is by 3 per cent., with effect from 1 July 1996, and for similar increases in the pay of Ministers and other office holders. The Government will also table motions to implement the report's recommendation that further increases should take effect from 1 April each year and should be linked to movements in senior civil service pay bands.