§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what would be the saving in public expenditure if local government staffs were cut by 100,000, taking into account accommodation, administrative and other costs as well as salaries and pensions.
§ Mr. KingDepending on the terms under which the local government work force were to be reduced, the type of staff involved and their length of service, I would expect a reduction of this order to lead to savings in England 289W and Wales in the range £650 million to £750 million—1980 survey prices—in a full year. This calculation takes no account of any redundancy costs which might arise in achieving such a reduction in manpower.