I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £111,800 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1973, for Remuneration.
This Supplementary Estimate is required to meet the cost of pay increases on four Votes. The Votes concerned and the amount required for each Vote are set out in Part 3 of the Supplementary Estimate. They are the President's Establishment, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Courts and the National Gallery. The amounts required are necessary to meet the cost of the second phase of the 13th Round increase and for some other increases for individual grades. Under the second phase of the 13th Round the pay of civil servants was increased by 4 per cent plus 63p per week as from 1st January, 1973. This increase was in accordance with the terms agreed at the Employer-Labour Conference on 21st December, 1970. The terms of this agreement were applied in the Civil Service to grades below assistant secretary level, following negotiations with the staff. The estimates for the present year have not made provision for the second phase of the 13th Round but the budget included a reserve for possible public service increases. Increases for individual grades have arisen following arbitration board findings and the number of settlements based largely on these findings. The amount sought in this Estimate are the cost of pay increases on the Votes mentioned, offset by savings on the Votes where such savings were available.
In other Votes similar pay increases are either being met out of savings or are being included as a separate item in Supplementary Estimates for the Votes concerned.
