§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what effect the operation of cash limits (a) has had in the current year and (b) will have had to the end of the current financial year upon the number and location of staff in her Department.
Mrs. WilliamsThe introduction of the cash limits system is intended to contain public expenditure within specified ceilings consistent with Government policy and has thereby intensified the attention given to the need for economy. My Department's manpower ceiling—including the University Grants Committee but excluding the Victoria and Albert and Science Museums—for the end of the current financial year shows a reduction of 82 posts on the ceiling for the end of the previous year. This adjusted manpower ceiling can be contained within the appropriate cash limits for the financial year ending 31st March 1977.