§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology when he expects the Contracts Division, Purchasing, to be brought up to full complement.
§ Mr. BennA wide variety of measures are being taken to overcome the long-term difficulties which have led to staff shortages. These include relocation of work to areas where recruitment is easier, long-term training programmes, and wider recruitment of specialist staff. I hope that the main difficulties will be overcome in the next two or three years but there can be no guarantee that the national shortages of certain specialists will not be reflected in our staffing position.