§ Lord AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
- (a) Whether they will give, for each of the years since its information, the expenditure on the Employment Medical Advisory Service and the number of staff employed, and for 1980–81 the budgeted expenditure and the number of staff employed as at 30th September; and
- (b) On what date the Employment Medical Advisory Service is moving to Bootle and how many of the staff have indicated that they will not continue in the employment of the Service after the move.
The Earl of GOWRIE(a) the following figures indicate expenditure on the Employment Medical Advisory Service and the number of staff employed as at March of each of the years since its information, and for 1980–81 the budgeted expenditure and the number of staff employed as at 30th September.
Staff Employed Expenditure £(000)s 1973–74 242 898 1974–75 297 1,280 1975–76 326 2,066 1976–77 330 2,428 1977–78 328 2,500 1978–79 330 3,436 1979–80 304 3,970 1980–81 292 5,116 (b) About three quarters of the staff of the Employment Medical Advisory Service consists of its regional field service, which is not affected by dispersal. A substantial part of the Health and Safety Executive's headquarters organisation is to be dispersed to Merseyside but final decisions on the posts to be dispersed, including any in the Employment Medical Advisory 1752WA Service, have yet to be taken. The timing of the Health and Safety Executive's dispersal to Merseyside depends greatly on the availability of suitable office accommodation, and the latest estimate suggests that no dispersal would be possible until the latter part of 1982. An attitude survey of HSE staff is currently being undertaken to ascertain attitudes and degrees of willingness to disperse to Merseyside, but the results of this Survey are not yet available.