§ Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number of persons in Great Britain employed in local government in December 1955, December 1973 and December 1975; and what percentage of the total national work force those numbers were in each of the years in question.
§ Mr. GoldingFor 1955 and 1973, the information requested is available from inquiries carried out in June of each year by this Department. Similar information is now collected in the Joint Manpower Watch Surveys carried out by the local Authorities Conditions of Service Advisory Board, for England and Wales, and by the Scottish Office, for Scotland, March 1976 is the earliest date at which figures in this new series are availble for Great Britain as a whole. The information provided by the new series is not strictly comparable with that obtained from the earlier inquiries. In addition, changes in local authority responsibilities over the years will have affected the figures.
Following is the information available:
Numbers employed by local authorities in Great Britain, excluding police forces June 1955 … … … 1,441,000 June 1973 … … … 2,587,000 March 1976 … … 2,754,000
Percentage of all employees in employment June 1965 … … … 6.8 June 1973 … … … 11.7 March 1976 … … … 12.6