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Ministerial and other Salaries Order 2008

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Ministerial and other Salaries Order 2008. The noble Lord said: The order gives effect to the government policy set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 16 January this year, following the publication of the report of the Senior Salaries Review Body on parliamentary pay and allowances. The policy as expressed in that Statement is that ministerial salaries should increase at the same rate as for Members of Parliament. The order will therefore increase the annual amount of the salaries of ministerial and other office holders under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975. The increases are 0.84 per cent of the amount of salary on 31 March 2007 from 1 April 2007; and a further 1.06 per cent, again of the amount of salary on 31 March 2007, from 1 November 2007. As with MPs’ pay, increases have been staged to deliver an increase for the year of 1.9 per cent, which included the 0.66 per cent automatic increase under the uprating formula in the 1975 Act. We have noted the conclusions of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments on retrospectivity. As highlighted in that Committee’s report, the Government accept that the order is retrospective. Nevertheless, the Government believe that the general presumption that powers delegated in enactments are not capable of being exercised retrospectively is outweighed by other factors in this case. In particular, some backdating of salaries is now common practice, especially in the public sector, due to the timings of negotiated pay settlements. The practice of backdating ministerial salaries to a limited extent has also been reflected in previous orders relating to ministerial salaries, such as the Ministerial and other Salaries Order 2001 and the Attorney-General’s Salary Order 2000. Both orders were approved by the House of Lords. As the Joint Committee points out at paragraph 1.12 of its report, the order applies only to those Ministers and other office-holders who are still in post when the order comes into force. The committee recognises that, while the order could have been framed prospectively, so as to confer equivalent increases on these Ministers and other office-holders—characterised, for example, as lump-sum payments—such provision would have been more complicated and less transparent. Accordingly, I commend the order to the Committee. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Ministerial and other Salaries Order 2008. 21st report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord Davies of Oldham.)