§ 2.48 p.m.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government how many vacancies there are for bus conductors and drivers in the North-West of England.
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, I am afraid that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport could obtain this information from the large number of undertakings involved only at disproportionate expense.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, I am extremely sorry, but I could not hear a word that my noble friend said. However, whatever he did say, is my noble friend aware that I have reliable information that there are indeed many vacancies for bus conductors and bus drivers? Does it not surprise him that this should be so in times of high unemployment? Is he aware that, despite good pay, people are unwilling to take such jobs, which involve them in weekend work and which thus prevent them from taking part in local club life?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, bus hours are, indeed, a deterrent to recruitment, and given shifts—work varying from day-to-day, evenings, early mornings and weekends—many people find this disruptive of family life. I should be happy to study any information about this which my noble friend Lady Trumpington possesses, but I can only quote from a picture painted by bus undertakings themselves; for example, the recently published annual report of a national bus company—an operator in the North-West—says:
The year saw an end to staff shortages in most areas and a low level of labour turnover".
§ Lord UnderhillMy Lords, may I ask the Minister whether he is aware that a simple phone call to the National Bus Company revealed two hours ago that there are no vacancies whatever for conductors in the three subsidiaries—that is, Cumberland, Ribble, and Crosville Merseyside area—of the National Bus Company. What few vacancies there are for drivers are not being filled, partly because of promotion possibilities for conductors and partly because they want to avoid the possibility of redundancies due to drop in services. If there are vacancies in other undertakings in the North-West, would the Minister agree that there seems to be a basis for considering why the National Bus Company has no vacancies whereas other undertakings may? May it have something to do with unsocial broken hours?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for answering this Question so well at his own expense.