§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) which bodies have been set up by the present Government to deal with pay and manpower matters; and what are the numbers that each employs;
(2) what are the total numbers employed by the Office of Manpower Economics; and how many reports it has published since its inception in 1971.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithIn November 1970 the Government set up three review bodies to advise on top salaries and the pay of doctors and dentists and the Armed Forces. At the same time it established the Office of Manpower Economics, to provide a secretariat for the review bodies, to servicead hoc inquiries on pay problems and to carry out research on pay and manpower questions. At 1st January 1973 the OME employed 53 staff.
Since January 1971 the office has published three reports based on research into pay questions and a fourth is to be published tomorrow.
An Employment Service Agency has been set up within the Department of Employment to develop the public employment services, on the lines set out in "Employment and Training: Government Proposals" (Cmnd. 5250). Paragraphs 35 to 38 of Cmnd. 5250 describe the proposed arrangements for staffing the Employment Service Agency and the Training Service Agency, and the Manpower Services Commission which has yet to be constituted.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what arrangements he proposes to make to ensure that the Manpower Services Commission will be adequately informed of future manpower requirements.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithMy Department and the Commission will need to work closely together on this. Precise arrangements for information about future manpower requirements will need to be254W worked out when the commission is established.