§ 39. Mr. Lawsonasked the Minister of Public Building and Works what proportions of his non-industrial staff are employed in London and Scotland, respectively.
§ Mr. SharplesExcluding locally engaged staff overseas, about 37 per cent. of non-industrial staff are employed in the London postal area and 7 per cent. in Scotland.
§ Mr. LawsonIn view of the repeated assertions that Government policy is to bring about a much more sensible distribution of industry, will not the hon. Gentleman's right hon. Friend take a lead in this matter to see that there is much more effective distribution than has so far been achieved?
§ Mr. SharplesWhat we are intending to do is to see that all future works services in Scotland should be designed and controlled in Scotland itself, unless there are special reasons for making other arrangements.
§ 40. Mr. Smallasked the Minister of Public Building and Works what proportions of his industrial staff are employed in London and Scotland, respectively.
§ Mr. SharplesApproximately 23 per cent. of the Ministry's directly employed 329 industrial staff in the United Kingdom work in London and 9 per cent. in Scotland.
§ Mr. SmallHas the hon. Gentleman any proposal for increasing the industrial staff? Answers to previous questions have indicated an interest in the Central London area. Is he not aware that it is in the basic interests of Scotland that a higher proportion of industrial staff should be allocated to Scotland?
§ Mr. SharplesThat would follow upon broad Government policy, because the industrial staff we employ are mainly engaged on the maintenance and repair of Government buildings and furniture.
§ 42. Mr. Willisasked the Minister of Public Building and Works what proportions of his staff in the professional grades are employed in London and Scotland, respectively.
§ Mr. SharplesExcluding locally engaged staff overseas, about 38 per cent. of professional staff are employed in the London postal area and about 6 per cent. in Scotland.
§ Mr. WillisDoes not the hon. Gentleman think that this and previous Answers indicate that there is still a great deal of room for spreading the activities of his Ministry more widely and doing rather more to assist Scotland?
§ Mr. SharplesI do not think that the hon. Member appreciates what I said in reply to an earlier Question when I said that we intended to decentralise a great deal more and that in future all works services for Scotland will be planned in Scotland, unless there are special reasons for doing otherwise.