§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if the Chatham Dockyard intake of 200 apprentices to which he has referred is in addition to the normal August entry;
(2) if he will give the monthly figures of the work force in Chatham Dockyard for the months of April to October 1975, inclusive;
(3) if the apprentice intake at Chatham Dockyard of 200 is the normal August figure; and if this shows an increase over 1974 or the figure originally intended for 1975;
(4) if the intake of 200 apprentices in Chatham Dockyard is included in the total work force of 4,500 to be achieved by March 1976; and, if so, what is the total 183W number of apprentices included in the March 1976 figure.
§ Mr. JuddAs I explained in a letter to my hon. Friend the Member for Rochester and Chatham (Mr. Bean) on 14th October, we have been able to set a target of 4,500 for the General Manager's Department at Chatham to be achieved by 31st March 1976; this contrasts with a strength figure of about 4,400 earlier this year. This will include an entry of about 200 craft and technician apprentices, making a total of 665; the normal annual intake will thus be preserved.
The actual numbers of industrial employees during April to October were as follows:
April 1975 4,567 May 1975 4,481 June 1975 4,446 July 1975 4,483 August 1975 4,481 September 1975 4,570 October 1975 4,537