§ Mr. Madelasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether, other than the two projects listed in "Department of Employment Research 1976–77", any externally commissioned research was funded by his Department in the field of incomes policy in the last year; which organisation carried out the research; what was its purpose; what was the cost to departmental funds; whether any similar research was commissioned in the previous financial year; whether any similar research is being undertaken in the current financial year; and why these projects were not listed in the annual reports of research.
§ Mr. Booth, pursuant to his reply [Official Report 13th February 1978; Vol. 944, c. 77], gave the following information:
Last year my Department commissioned an independent research organisation, Industrial Facts and Forecasting Limited, at a cost of £17,240, to carry out a small-scale qualitative survey of the practical problems encountered by negotiators in applying the then currrent pay policy. A somewhat similar survey was carried out the previous year by Opinion Research Centre. A further survey was planned this year but encountered difficulties in piloting. These projects were not listed in the Department's annual reports of research because they were conducted anonymously in order to reduce the risk of bias in the results. Their cost was, however, included in the published total for external research.