GETTING A GRIP ON HIGH PAY

The near collapse of the banking sector last year gave most of us an insight, for the first time, into the salaries, pay-offs and pensions of the people who run financial institutions, the so-called Masters of the Universe.

The scandal of Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension provoked a national outcry.

I am now pressing the Government to set up a High Pay Commission to review the huge sums of money paid out at the top end of the pay scale.

My Public Administration Select Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into executive pay in the public sector. We have seen huge increases in the pay and perks of local authority Chief Executives and others but, too often, the information is hard to get at. We need a new culture of openness.

The private sector too needs to be more open. After all, billions of pounds of pension fund money are invested in the private sector every year.

Wild investments fuelled by the short term bonus culture meant that the banks had to be bailed out by the taxpayer.

It beggars belief that the same behaviour should be allowed to continue. We need to take this opportunity to find long term solutions to the whole issue of income inequality.

Other countries take a different approach. Sweden publishes tax returns. The Canadian province of Ontario publishes online the salaries of named public sector employees earning over $100,000 a year.

My Committee’s full report will be published shortly on www.parliament.uk