§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what is the current staff of the British National Oil Corporation in the United Kingdom and abroad and for likely projections over the next five years; and further, if he will indicate the number of staff that are at present engaged in work which could be profitably subcontracted to outside firms.
(2) if he will give a specific directive to the British National Oil Corporation to inhibit the corporation from unnecessarily expanding in-house engineering and to make full use of the staff and facilities of private sector contractors outside the group.
§ Mr. GrayThe number of staff employed by the corporation in the United Kingdom and abroad was 2,105 as at end June 1981. Projections of staff numbers over the next five years are not available. The deployment of staff and the extent to which engineering work is contracted out by BNOC are matters for the day-to-day management of the corporation.