25
Wednesday, November 15, 1972
on salaries are concerned they have been accepted by you, Sir, in Council
and by the Finance Committee of this Council. But the Fourth Report deals
also with a number of matters affecting officers in the superscale, some
of which have service wide implications, and on some of which the further
advice of the Committee may have to be sought. As regards salaries the functions
of the Standing Committee on Superscale Salaries is to ensure that the
remuneration of senior officers does not fall seriously behind salaries
in the private sector, and remains consonant with the salaries of the
time-scale officers. Thus, as usual, the senior officers are being dealt
with not first, but last.
"It is not necessary that Heads of Government Departments and
other senior officers should be remunerated exactly on a par with the heads
and senior executives of major business enterprises, but it is vital, as
I have said, that the rewards should not be too much out of line with those
in the private sector, but taking into account the greater security of tenure
of the civil servants, and the lack of flexibility in Government salaries.
In the private sector individual salaries may be adjusted by bonuses.
which also reflect the profitability from time to time of a particular business
enterprise. A balance must therefore be struck, and the Committee, who,
I am glad to see, paid special attention to bonuses on this occasion, have
produced their judgement of Solomon.
"I think it is opportune to remind the public why superscale
salaries are considered by this independent Committee, which is composed
entirely of Unofficials, and to place on record my assurance that no intervention
is made by senior officials in the Committee's deliberations on salaries,
and that the recommendations made by the Committee are not in any way
/prejudiced