§ 39. Mr. Pageasked the Minister of Education what organised suggestion scheme is in operation in his Department; how many suggestions are received from employees through that organisation annually; how many are adopted; 1169 what awards are made for such suggestions; and what he estimates to be the savings made by the adoption of employees' suggestions.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education (Mr. Dennis Vosper)The staff of my Department are given every encouragement to make suggestions during the course of their day-to-day work, but when a formal scheme of this sort was last tried it produced so small a response that it was discontinued. No such scheme therefore is now in operation.
§ Mr. PageWas that small response due to the fact that the scheme was not properly organised? Will my hon. Friend look into this matter again personally and see whether he can institute a properly organised scheme of this nature?
§ Mr. VosperI have examined the previous scheme. To my mind it was a good one, but it ran for four years and produced only three suggestions, all of which, unfortunately, had to be rejected. My experience of a small Department like the Ministry of Education is that there is sufficient opportunity for and encouragement of suggestions without the necessity of a formal scheme.
§ Mr. ChetwyndIs the Parliamentary Secretary aware that during the last few months there have been many organised suggestions to his Department, mainly to the effect that the Minister should go? When will some notice be taken of them?