asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on his attitude to the Post Office pay settlement, and on the part his officers played in the negotiations.

The settlement is provisional and subject to ballot by the union's members. The Government welcome the main lines of the settlement, which appear to conform to the social contract, but they regret the threshold arrangement which is part of the settlement. This threshold arrangement does more than give protection against an acceleration in the rate of inflation and is unjustified.My officials were not party to the negotiations, which were conducted between the Post Office and the union.