asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what grounds he has agreed to pay men typists one and a quarter times as much as women typists for the same work, while he continues to pay women civil servants less than men civil servants for equal work in other grades; and if he will remedy this position.

This agreement was reached in the light of a recent award of the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal.

While I am very well aware of that, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he will very kindly answer the question about the grounds on which that decision was arrived at?

Because the tribunal had already awarded to male clerical assistants rates of pay equal to five-fourths of that awarded to clerical assistants and we considered that the same principle should obviously be applied in the case of typists.

How does my right hon. Friend reconcile that principle with the principle already accepted by the Government that the rate for the job should be paid in these various services?

I have already explained that this was a decision by the arbitration tribunal.