§ Mr. Banksasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the number of job vacancies filled through agencies in the private sector and number filled by Government agencies in the latest convenient period compared with the previous period.
§ Mr. Golding:I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission, which is responsible for the Operation of the public employment service, that the number of job vacancies filled through it was 1.6 million in 1977–78 and 1.5 million in 1976–77. Neither my Department nor the Commission maintains statistics about the number of vacancies filled through private agencies, but the Federation of Personnel Services of Great Britain recently stated that private agencies find either permanent or temporary work for over 1 million individuals each year.