HC Deb 11 December 1961 vol 651 cc6-8W
17. Mr. B. Harrison

asked the Minister of Labour if he will make a statement on the economies to be made in his Department.

Mr. Hare

In accordance with the Government's policy of restraining increases in public expenditure, I have decided on certain economies in my Department, which can be made without damage to its basic services. I hope that in the result the expenditure of my Department in the next financial year will not rise much above that for the current year. The principal savings are as follows:—

(1) As I have announced in reply to another Question, charges are to be made to employers for certain training services.

(2) The Technical and Scientific Register at Headquarters will be discontinued; but the Professional and Executive Register at Selected Local Offices will be available to persons with technical and scientific qualifications, and to employers.

(3) The Regional Office at Nottingham will be closed and its functions will be divided between the Regional Offices at Birmingham and Leeds.

(4) The Government Training Centres at Kidbrooke and Long Eaton will be closed. Certain classes at other Centres with inadequate attendance will also be closed, but all first year apprenticeship classes, including the class at Long Eaton, will be retained.

(5) The work of Nursing Appointments Offices will be merged in the normal placing machinery of my Department.

(6) The number of Selected Local Offices which operate the Professional and Executive Register will be reduced from 48 to 38 by eliminating certain offices at which the demand has been small.

(7) Some reduction of staff, largely staff providing common services in the Department, will be effected by administrative and organisational changes.

(8) The Labour Attaché post in Mexico, the Deputy Labour Attaché post in Washington, and the Assistant Labour Attaché posts in Calcutta and Bonn will be given up.

The estimated yield from these and certain ancillary measures is about £800,000 in the financial year 1962–63. The basic economic and social services of my Department will be maintained. In particular, placing and unemployment insurance work will continue as at present, as also will work in the fields of industrial relations (including Wages Councils) and safety, health and welfare. The number of places available at Government Training Centres will remain fully adequate to deal with the likely demand. I am not closing any Industrial Rehabilitation Units; on the contrary two new Units have been opened in the past 18 months and the capacity of an existing one has been doubled. Services for the disabled generally will remain at a high level.