asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total cost of, and number of people employed in his Department in 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74 and 1974–75.

The average number and cost of staff employed in my Department were as follows:

	Number	Cost
1970–71	31,723	£51,394,000
1971–72	32,719	£62,979,000
1972–73	34,954	£67,452,000
1973–74	34,337	£77,808,000
1974–75	22,454	£64,408,000

In addition, casual staff whose average number varied between 685 and 2,926 during the period were employed mainly on unemployment benefit work in local offices.The figure for 1974–75 shows a reduction mainly because the Training Services Agency, the Employment Service Agency and the Health and Safety Executive became independent organisations during that year.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment by how many the number of civil servants in his Department and other categories of public sector officials, including any industrial civil servants, increased between 1970–71 and 1974–75.

The increase in the average number of civil servants in my Department and other categories of public sector officials remunerated from the Department's Vote between 1970–71 and 1974–75 was 6,408.