Public and Commercial Services Union

Nicky Gavron and Murad Qureshi, Labour

1. PCS is campaigning for fair pay for its members, meaning that their pay should increase in line with inflation and be negotiated nationally instead of 200 separate sets of negotiations. Do you support PCS’s campaign for fair pay for public servants?

Our Group totally backs fair pay for all. We have voted on many occasions in support for the implementation of the London Living Wage as a a minimum wage for all employees across the Greater London Authority and its functional bodies, either directly employed, or those employed by our contractors, which is set at a higher level than the Government's Minimum Wage. The Greater London Authority has a progressive pay policy we believe is consistent with your objectives.

2. The government has proposed to cut over 100,000 civil and public service jobs. They claim these cuts will not impact service delivery to the public, however every day our members are seeing how less staff means a poorer service to the public. Where do you stand on cutting civil and public service jobs?

At City Hall, employee numbers have risen considerably since the first Mayoral and Assembly elections in 2000. Through the support of the Labour Group, the Mayor's budget, which includes staffing costs, has been passed each year, despite calls from the opposition groups to cut staffing levels.

3. PCS is concerned that privatisation of the civil service has continued since 1997. We believe this is costly and unnecessary and jeopardises services being delivered to the public, often the most vulnerable in society. Where do you stand on privatising public services?

The Mayor and Assembly do bring in consultants from time to time to do specific areas of work, but on the whole we use our in-house departments. City Hall is in the process of looking at, in the longer term, the possibility of converging some departments, which may include converging across the functional bodies, to avoid duplication of work, but any such move must ensure that service provision is not affected and union colleagues are consulted and their views taken into account.

Caroline Pidgeon and Mike Tuffrey, Liberal Democrat

1. PCS is campaigning for fair pay for its members, meaning that their pay should increase in line with inflation and be negotiated nationally instead of 200 separate sets of negotiations. Do you support PCS’s campaign for fair pay for public servants?

Liberal Democrats do not believe public sector pay should fall behind inflation. Though there may be some disparities or fluctuations within an individual year, we would not expect to see this over an extended period of time.

We do not take a view on whether the Civil Service negotiate nationally or regionally. These are matters for the Civil Service and the Public and Commercial Services Union to resolve.

2. The government has proposed to cut over 100,000 civil and public service jobs. They claim these cuts will not impact service delivery to the public, however every day our members are seeing how less staff means a poorer service to the public. Where do you stand on cutting civil and public service jobs?

Liberal Democrats share the PCS’ concern about the impact of the government’s policy on front line services for our constituents. Our priorities are getting the right services and quality services to the public efficiently and effectively where they do the most good.

We have proposed a range of policy initiatives that we believe would reduce costs while improving service in many areas; for example, replacing working family tax credits with a much simpler system, and replacing council tax with a local income tax. We believe this is more effective than tinkering with systems that are no longer fit for purpose.

3. PCS is concerned that privatisation of the civil service has continued since 1997. We believe this is costly and unnecessary and jeopardises services being delivered to the public, often the most vulnerable in society. Where do you stand on privatising public services?

Liberal Democrats believe that where appropriate the private sector can have a role in delivering best value as part of public sector reform. However, we also believe the private sector should not be given advantages over the public sector. It is vital there is a level playing field.