§ 28. Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will undertake an inquiry in depth into the employment vacancies and available skills in a selected area with a view to establishing the relationship between the figures of vacancies as issued by the Department and the actual availability of jobs, and the skills, if any, which are, or may shortly become, in short supply.
§ Mr. David HowellI have already undertaken special inquiries in the Peterborough and Swansea areas which revealed that on 5th January, 1972, the number of unfilled vacancies recorded at the employment exchanges represented between one-third and one-half of those available with the principal employers.
The question of future shortages of skilled labour is one of the aspects of manpower resources which are currently under consideration by the National Economic Development Council.