§ 34. Dr. Strossasked the Minister of Labour the authorised complement of Class 2 factory inspectors; the number, excluding temporary inspectors, actually in post; and how many of these hold university degrees in engineering, physics and chemistry, respectively.
§ The Minister of Labour and National Service (Mr. Iain Macleod)One hundred and one. Excluding temporaries, there are 84 in post. Of these, 3, 1 and 4 hold university degrees in engineering, physics and chemistry respectively.
§ Dr. StrossAm I right in assuming that the Minister would welcome into the service a much greater percentage of entrants who hold the degrees mentioned in the Question? Does he not agree that the real difficulty is that he is not able to offer a suitable salary scale? Will the right hon. Gentleman say what he is doing in order to bring about such a change so that these men and women are fully and properly qualified?
§ Mr. MacleodIn respect of numbers, the position is getting slightly better. We were thirteen down two years ago and seven down last year. Now, including those just joining and temporaries, we are three down. The question of qualifications and how far they are necessary is one of the main points of the Departmental inquiry which the hon. Member will know about, and which is on the point of reporting to me.