§ Mr. Hordernasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish figures showing the numbers employed by all local authorities, and the cost of salaries, in February 1974 and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe table below gives the available information about local authority manpower. It shows the combined total of full and part-time employees in local authorities in England and Wales:
The numbers of police civilians, traffic wardens, police cadets, agency, magistrates courts and probation staffs are now collected by the central and local government joint manpower watch but were not covered in surveys prior to 1975. They are therefore excluded from the table in 646W order to provide a broadly comparable set of figures. Local authority expenditure on wages and salaries was as follows:
Thousands June 1974 … … … 2,443 March 1979 … … … 2,607
million 1 April 1974–31 March 1975 £5,709.0 1 April 1978–31 March 1979 (provisional estimate) £9,900.0