asked the Minister for the Civil Service what research is undertaken into the pay relationship of workers in the Industrial Civil Service into those in other industries.

The present system of pay and pay determination for industrial civil servants is based on the recommendations made in the National Board for Prices and Incomes Report No. 146 "The Pay and Conditions of Industrial Civil Servants" published in April 1970—Cmnd. No. 4351. There is no agreement for pay research for industrial grades in the Civil Service; published statistics are the continuing source of information on their pay relationship with other industries.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether the pay of workers in the Industrial Civil Service compares adequately with pay rates in other industries and with the income received by those who are unemployed.

Published statistics are at present the only systematic source of information on how the pay of industrial civil servants compares with that in other industries. Statistics currently available are not, however, adequate in isolation for making fair comparisons, because they neither give sufficient detail about the make-up of pay nor take account of the wide differences in pay settlement dates.The adequacy of pay cannot be appropriately judged by comparison with unemployment benefits.