§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps are being taken to fill the 60 vacancies, as at 1 April, for factory inspectors.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI am informed by the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that since 1 April 1979, 42 recruits have joined Her Majesty's Factory Inspectorate from the open competition held in autumn 1978. The spring 1979 competition is not yet completed but should provide a further substantial number of candidates. Other competitions are currently being organised to fill the balance of vacancies.
§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list by region
184W known official and other stoppages. The information so far as it is available is given in the following table; the further breakdown requested could not be made except at disproportionate cost.
Area April 1977 April 1978 April 1979 South-West … … … … … 26 29 34 South … … … … … 26 22 28 South-East … … … … … 25 24 23 London North-West … … … … … 25 28 31 London, North-East … … … … … 25 24 24 London South … … … … … 28 29 31 East Anglia … … … … … 25 26 27 Northern Home Counties … … … … … 23 25 26 East Midlands … … … … … 27 27 29 West Midlands … … … … … 44 46 38 Wales … … … … … 30 35 32 Manchester … … … … … 24 30 28 North Midlands … … … … … 26 27 29 South Yorkshire and Humberside … … … … … 33 35 33 West and North Yorkshire … … … … … 40 37 35 Greater Manchester … … … … … 36 37 37 Merseyside … … … … … 30 30 29 North-West … … … … … 25 30 30 North-East … … … … … 38 33 36 Scotland, East … … … … … 30 33 31 Scotland, West … … … … … 31 32 37 617 639 648 the number of factory inspectors employed by the Health and Safety Executive for each of the years 1976–77, 1977–78 and to date in 1979; and what increases he expects in the inspectorate over the next five years.
§ Mr. Mayhew,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 4 July 1979; Vol. 969, c. 607], gave the following answer:
Following is the information for the beginning of April in each of the years 1977–79 inclusive.
The chairman of the Health and Safety Commission informs me that present forward plans provide for an increase of about 200 factory inspectors over the next five years.
185W
April 1977 April 1978 April 1979 Field Consultant Groups* … … … … … — 77 111 Headquarters† … … … … … 254 195 193 Grand Total … … … … … 871 911 952 * Work on setting up these groups was going on during 1977. The 1977 HQ figure includes specialist inspectors on field consultancy work who later transferred to these groups. † The headquarters figure includes inspectors in F1 HQ, F1 consultant sections and in the HSE secretariat.