§ Mr. Durantasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied with the current rate of reduction in the number of local government employees in England and Wales.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe latest return of the joint manpower watch, published today—copies of which are available in
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Average rents (£ a week, April) Indexes (1958=100) Un-rebated Rebated Unrebated rents Rebated rents Male manual earnings Retail prices* 1958 0.94 100.0 100.0 100.0 1959 0.99 105.3 104.4 99.7 1960 1.02 108.5 111.9 100.8 1961 1.08 114.9 119.5 103.8 1962 1.19 126.6 124.3 109.9 1963 1.25 133.0 128.3 111.5 1964 1.32 140.4 139.8 114.6 1965 1.41 150.0 150.0 120.6 1966 1.55 164.9 161.1 125.0 1967 1.69 179.8 163.3 128.3 1968 1.87 19.69 176.5 134.1 1969 2.03 216.0 189.8 141.5 1970 2.27 241.5 212.8 149.7 1971 2.48 2.48 263.8 263.8 233.6 164.3 1972 2.75 2.71 292.6 288.3 260.6 174.5 1973 3.44 3.13 366.0 333.0 302.7 190.7 1974 3.75 3.31 398.9 352.1 346.5 220.9 1975 4.16 3.68 442.6 391.5 442.5 274.7 1976 4.77 4.19 507.4 445.7 517.3 318.4 1977 5.52 4.86 587.2 517.0 568.1 373.9 1978 5.85 5.20 622.3 553.2 641.2 402.7 1979 6.40 5.2 680.9 608.5 738.9 445.6 1980 7.71 6.90 820.2 734.0 887.2 541.5 * Second quarter average for each year. Notes: 1. Not all the information asked for is available back to 1958. Figures for unrebated rents are not available before 1968. The figures for 1968, 1969 and 1970 refer to 31 March and so probably do not include all the April rent increases. For 1971 and subsequent years the figures relate to April-May in 1973; so before 1971 the rebated rent series, which refers to April is to be preferred. Before 1972 the number of rebates was too small and the average amounts too low for there to be a material difference to average rents. So the consistently defined series for rebated rents may stand for both unrebated rents as well before 1972, the sources of the figures for rebated and unrebated rents are not the same—see notes to table XIX in Housing and Construction Statistics No. 32—so the figures may differ for that reason. The rents of tenants receiving supplementary benefit are un-rebated as the full rent is taken into account in calculating entitlement to supplementary benefit. 2. Average rents for England—as distinct from England and Wales—are not available before 1974. In order to use consistently defined figures, England and Wales averages are used throughout. In 1979, however, there was a difference of only 1p between the average the Library—shows that in the year to September 1980 there was a reduction of some 36,500—full-time equivalent—employees in local authorities in England and Wales and, in the three months from June to September 1980 a reduction, on a seasonally adjusted basis, of some 15,500—full-time equivalents. These are the biggest annual and quarterly reductions ever recorded, but I believe that local authorities will need to reduce their manpower at an even faster rate if they are to meet the Government's expenditure targets.