55. Lt.-Col. Colin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Scotland in view of the statement in Clause 7 of Scottish Development Department Circular No. 78/1971 that fees and salaries for an authoritys' own staff might be half the scale of fees for private practice, what measures he proposes to reverse the trend towards the elimination of chartered architects in private practice by the substitution of paid officials of national or local government authorities.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellParagraph 7 of this circular merely suggests a way of apportioning notionally the salaries of local authority staff engaged on approved housing improvements. It does not imply any policy regarding the choice between private practitioners and an authority's own staff, which is one for each council to make.