§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the fact that there is no qualified accountant in the Department of Employment and Home Office doing internal audits and one in the Treasury and as in 1968 the Fulton committee urged more professionally qualified accountants to be employed in Government Departments, she will implement this proposal.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Department of Employment has a professionally qualified accountant as director of its internal audit unit, and the Home Office has two posts for professional accountants within internal audit. There are 14 professionally qualified accountants currently working in the Treasury. Steps are currently being taken to increase the use of accountants within Government Departments by identifying those posts within Departments which require accountancy expertise. When the total requirement has been assessed, steps will be taken to meet this demand through external recruitment and additional internal training.