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Members' Salaries, Pensions and Allowances

It might be helpful if we clarified what is being proposed, otherwise we might be going down a blind alley. As I understand it, the Government are asking Baker to examine the next couple of years and then to consider a mechanism that would, in effect, be an automatic indicator, which the Department of Finance and Administration would get from the national statistician or whoever else and would then implement. The other body would deal only with that mechanism, should there be a situation similar to the one involving the civil service pay link breaking down, and should there need to be a reassessment and a new indicator. I hope that I have got that right. If so, some of the concerns that are being raised by the hon. Gentleman—although not all of them—will be addressed. We are not talking about a report coming back; we are talking about an indicator, and that matter is in the public domain.