asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what are the numbers of careers officers in the Employment Services Agency; and if he will specify where each is and the total cost;(2) what is the total cost of the careers service as estimated in the last financial year.

Careers officers are employed, not by the employment services division of the Manpower Services Commission, but by local education authorities. The number of posts for careers officers in each authority in England at 1 April 1980 was as follows:

CAREERS OFFICER POSTS IN ENGLAND (INCLUDING UNEMPLOYMENT SPECIALISTS)
Local Education Authority	Careers Officers
Avon	51½
Barking	12
Barnet	13
Barnsley	16
Bedfordshire	29
Berkshire	41
Bexley	11
Birmingham	71
Bolton	15
Bradford	32
Brent	26
Bromley	14
Buckinghamshire	29
Bury	11
Calderdale	8
Cambridgeshire	33
Cheshire	55
Cleveland	45
Cornwall	20
Coventry	32
Croydon	18
Cumbria	25
Derbyshire	46
Devon	50
Doncaster	23
Dorset	31
Dudley	14
Durham	38
Ealing	18
East Sussex	33½
Enfield	13
Essex	62
Gateshead	19
Gloucestershire	27½
Hampshire	78
Haringey	17
Harrow	13
Havering	18
Hereford and Worcester	36
Hertfordshire	53
Hillingdon	15
Hounslow	13
Humberside	55
Inner London Education Authority	190½
Isle of Wight	7
Kent	77
Kingston Upon Thames	5
Kirklees	20
Knowsley	18
Lancashire	74½
Leeds	42
Leicestershire	48½
Lincolnshire	29
Liverpool	44
Manchester	40
Merton	8

Local Education Authority	Careers Officers
Newcastle Upon Tyne	33
Norfolk	28
Northamptonshire	28
North Tyneside	16
Northumberland	19
North Yorkshire	34
Nottinghamshire	57
Oldham	11
Oxfordshire	29
Redbridge	14
Richmond Upon Thames	8
Rochdale	13
Rotherham	16
St. Helens	15
Salford	18
Shropshire	26
Sandwell	23
Sefton	21
Sheffield	47
Solihull	13
Somerset	25½
South Tyneside	15
Staffordshire	53½
Stockport	17
Suffolk	29
Sunderland	31
Surrey	51
Sutton	7
Tameside	15
Trafford	14
Wakefield	21
Walsall	21
Waltham Forest	12
Warwickshire	29
West Sussex	24
Wigan	21
Wiltshire	32
Wirral	22
Woverhampton	27
Newham	16
TOTAL (England)	2,836

In addition, there were 2,555 posts for support staff (employment assistants and clerical staff) and 101 posts for supernumerary trainee careers officers.The latest available information indicates that the likely cost of the regular careers services of local authorities in England in the financial year 1979–80 was £32·1 millions. Additional posts for unemployment specialists were funded directly by the Government at an estimated cost in 1979–80 of £ 2·8 million.My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales are responsible for the careers service in those countries.