32. Mr. W. T. Williamsasked the Minister of Labour what estimate he has made of the demand for and the availability of Great Britain's manpower resources to 1970; and what steps he is taking to meet a possible shortfall.
§ Mr. MarshEstimates are currently being prepared for the Economic Plan. The preliminary work indicates that labour is likely to be short over the next few years if the growth rates anticipated by industry are to be achieved. On the action being taken, I would refer my hon. Friend to the note circulated in connection with my right hon. Friend the First Secretary's reply of 3rd June to the hon. Member for Louth (Sir C. Osborne) and, in particular, to paragraph 7.
Mr. WilliamsCan the Minister tell us what attempt was made to estimate these requirements by his predecessors and what difficulties of a shortfall have been presented to the country by the apparent failure to make such an estimate earlier?
§ Mr. MarshAlthough hon. Members opposite were responsible for one manpower report—I think a general one—there are very serious problems which arise from the fact that they did not tackle forecasting of manpower shortages 29 sufficiently early. There is no doubt at all that this constitutes a problem which the Government are taking very urgent measures to deal with.
§ Sir Rolf Dudley WilliamsIf the Government are disturbed about this shortage of manpower why do they not have a General Election, when most of the benches opposite would be emptied and the redundancies would be available elsewhere?