§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many building operatives are directly employed by British Rail; and what was their output during the year 1970–71 on new construction and maintenance work, respectively;
(2) how many building operatives are directly employed by the National Coal Board; and what was their output during the year 1970–71 on new construction and maintenance work, respectively;
(3) how many building operatives are directly employed by the British Steel Corporation; and what was their output during the year 1970–71 on new construction and maintenance work, respectively;
(4) how many building operatives are directly employed by the British Airports Authority; and what was their output 272W during the year 1970–71 on new construction and maintenance work, respectively;
(5) how many building operatives are directly employed by electricity boards; and what was their output during the year 1970–71 on new construction and maintenance work, respectively;
(6) how many building operatives are directly employed by gas boards; and what was their output during the year 1970–71 on new construction and maintenance work, respectively.
§ Mr. AmeryMy Department is supplied by these public corporations with limited information on numbers of directly employed building operatives and the value of their ouput, but this is on a confidential basis. I suggest that inquiries should be addressed directly to the corporations concerned.
§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether he will make a statement on the efficiency and productivity of his directly employed labour force in the last 12 months;
(2) whether he will set out in tabular form the number of the directly employed labour force of his Department on 1st May in each year since 1964, including the size of the force at the latest convenient date;
(3) what proportion of his Department's maintenance work is carried out by private contractors, and how much by his directly employed labour force; what are the equivalent figures in terms of monetary value at constant prices; and what were the equivalent figures in each year since 1964.
§ Mr. AmeryI have the operations of the Department's directly employed labour force under continuing study to ensure that fair criteria of cost, competitiveness and operational efficiency are met. The aim throughout is to ensure that my responsibilities in this field are effectively carried out at the lowest possible cost to public funds.
To this end I have required of management at all levels a sustained effort to improve the productivity and efficiency of this labour force.
The means employed have included: countrywide reviews to rationalise the maintenance task; the introduction of a 273W productivity agreement to enable the force to be used as flexibly and productively as possible; the development of operational controls recommended by outside management consultants; and a costing system to indicate where directly employed labour can most advantageously be used.
The numbers employed in the United Kingdom since 1st May, 1965, are as follows—comparable figures for earlier dates are not available:
1st May, 1965 … … 32,900 1st May, 1966 … … 31,700 1st May, 1967 … … 31,400 1st May, 1968 … … 31,200 1st May, 1969 … … 29,600 1st May, 1970 … … 27,400 31st March, 1971 … … 25,500 Percentages of maintenance work done by directly employed labour and by contractors—measured by the cost of wages and materials and contractual payments respectively—and the value of this work at 1971–72 prices are as follows:
Directly Employed Labour Contractors Per cent. Value £m. Per cent. Value £m. 1964–65 … 43.7 43.5 56.3 56.0 1965–66 … 48.3 47.2 51.7 50.5 1966–67 … 46.5 46.2 53.5 53.2 1967–68 … 45.1 46.2 54.9 56.2 1968–69 … 43.8 46.2 56.2 59.3 1969–70 … 41.0 44.9 59.0 64.6 1970–71 … 41.8 44.8 58.2 62.4