§ Sir J. Langford-Holtasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total number of paid public appointments made by him in each of the last lour years as recorded in the "Directory of Paid Public Appointments made by Ministers"; and what was the total cost to the public purse of these appointments in each of these years.
§ Mr. ShoreI am currently responsible for making 740 paid public appointments. The total cost in salaries and fees of these appointments in 1977–78 was about £830,000. The figures for the three previous years are:
Year Number of appointments Cost £ 1976–77 930 975,000 1975–76 1,080 1,480,000 1974–75 1,070 1,440,000 The figures for 1975–76 and 1974–75 include appointments for which the Secretary of State for Transport is now responsible.