HC Deb 23 July 1953 vol 518 cc51-2W
Mr. Houghton

asked the Minister of Labour what grades of staff are employed upon the collection of information for the Household Expenditure Inquiry; how much of the work will be done on overtime; and what is the estimated cost of this extra work.

Sir W. Monckton

Information is collected by Grade 5 Officers and Grade 6 Officers—mostly Grade 6—of the Ministry of Labour and by part-time interviewers of the Central Office of Information who are making about one-third of the inquiries. Most of the work undertaken by the Ministry requires overtime working, as the visits to householders are normally made outside official hours in

available during the periods in question for unemployed persons registered at the Walton Employment Exchange is not known; statistics showing the numbers of vacancies notified to each employment exchange and remaining unfilled are compiled at four-weekly intervals, but those figures do not represent the total number of vacancies becoming available over a period. Moreover, unemployed persons registered at Walton were no doubt available for employment with firms which notified vacancies to other employment exchanges in Liverpool and the surrounding area. Figures are given in the table, however, showing the number of vacancies notified to the Walton Employment Exchange and remaining unfilled at the end of each of the six-monthly periods.

order to meet the convenience of working members of the household. The total cost of this inquiry, including the payments to those completing inquiry forms, is now estimated at £150,000.

Mr. Houghton

asked the Minister of Labour to what extent the work in connection with the Household Expenditure Inquiry is being undertaken by staff who would otherwise be redundant.

Sir W. Monckton

Apart from a small number of headquarters staff engaged on the tabulation and interpretation of the statistics, no staff engaged on the inquiry would otherwise be redundant. The collection of information is a part-time job and much of the work is necessarily done outside office hours.