§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he still proposes to concentrate all the operations of the Army Cataloguing Authority in one location; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ButlerIt is not at present proposed to concentrate all the operations of the Army Cataloguing Authority on to a single site, but some rationalisation of the existing six ACA locations is being considered.
§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many vacancies for technical staff remained unfilled at the Army Cataloguing Authority at the most recent convenient date; and what steps are being taken to fill them.
§ Mr. ButlerThere are at present 37 vacancies for technical staff. Many of these vacancies have been deliberately left open as in the coming 18 months the Army Cataloguing Authority will be changing over from a manual to a computerised data-handling system and the pattern of staff requirements will change over this period. The vacancies expected to arise will mostly be in different grades from those now obtaining. Recent action has concentrated on finding staff from internal and external 529W sources willing to move with the ACA to Glasgow. Now that the ACA is no longer in the dispersal package, it is expected that most vacancies will be filled from internal sources.