§ 19. Mr. Pageasked the President of the Board of Trade 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; what awards are made for such suggestions; and what he estimates to be the savings made by the adoption of employees' suggestions.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithSince 1951 the staff of the Board of Trade have been invited to submit suggestions to a suggestions committee on which the staff are themselves represented. About 100 suggestions are made in a year and rather less than half of these are accepted. The awards for successful suggestions vary between half a guinea and five guineas.
Because of the wide range of work in the Board of Trade, most of the suggestions are only of limited application, and it is not possible to give any figure of financial saving to which they lead. But there is no doubt that the scheme leads to greater efficiency and encourages interest in the methods of work.