§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if any academic staff of United Kingdom universities and polytechnics are employed by his Department as researchers or consultants; and if so, what are their names, the institutions at which they teach, their positions at such institutions, the nature of their work for his Department and the cost to public funds of employing each of them.
§ Mr. WaddingtonMy Department employs no academics as consultants or researchers on an individual basis. It does however, in common with other parts of the Department of Employment group, have contracts with universities and polytechnics to undertake research projects on its behalf. Details of these projects would be too lengthy to reproduce here but are included in a Department of Employment-Manpower Services Commission booklet "Research 1979–80" and a Health and Safety Executive booklet "Health and Safety Research 1979", published by HMSO, which should be in the House of Commons Library.
I understand that other parts of the Department of Employment group do for brief periods employ a small number of academics on a direct basis, but full details about these could not be obtained in the time available. I shall, however, write to the hon. Member with these details as soon as possible.