§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report which local authorities in England and Wales operate direct labour departments; how many employees they each employ; and what is the profit or loss they each made in the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. FreesonThe hon. Member should seek information for individual local authorities from the authorities themselves.
Following is an analysis of direct labour operatives.
NUMBERS OF DIRECT LABOUR OPERATIVES EMPLOYED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES* IN ENGLAND AND WALES. APRIL 1976 Number of operatives employed Number of authorities 0 1 1–15 — 6–10 3 11–19 6 20–30 23 31–50 42 51–70 42 71–99 54 100–249 135 250–499 62 500–999 61 1,000 and over 28 All authorities 457 * Local authorities are the GLC, London boroughs, counties and districts. In all, these English and Welsh local authorities employed 147,000 operatives in April 1976. In addition to these 395W manual workers, the local authorities employ administrative, professional, technical and clerical staff on the design, management and control of construction work which may be carried out either by direct labour or by contractors.