§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many staff were employed (a) full-time and (b) part-time, in a custodial capacity in respect of the ancient monuments in the care of his Department on 1st June 1977, 1st January 1978 and 1st June 1978; and what plans he has to recruit more staff.
§ Mr. ShoreThe numbers of custodians employed at ancient monuments in England were as follows:
1st June 1977 1st January 1978 1st June 1978 Full-time (the June figures include seasonal staff) 211 147 235 Part-time 138 89 129 Staffing levels are under review.
§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many separate visits were paid to ancient monuments in the care of his Department during 1976 and 1977, respectively; how many season tickets for admission to these monuments were sold during the same years; and what plans he has to increase interest in, and encourage visits to, these monuments in the future.
§ Mr. ShoreIncluding those to the Tower of London and other Royal palaces, there were 10,875,000 recorded visits in 1976 to the historic monuments in England for which I am responsible. The corresponding figure for 1977 was 12,400,000. 43,000 season tickets were sold throughout Great Britain in 1976 and 63,000 in 1977. In addition to a publicity campaign to encourage visits, efforts to increase interest in historic monuments are centred on improving the 187W educational and interpretative facilities available at the monuments.