2.
CONFIDENTIAL
is no objection to their working, which is one of the many reasons why I attach such importance to our decision to advance the date of 100% pull-through from primary to secondary education to next year.
6.
Meanwhile if you come under Parliamentary pressure on this issue I suggest there is quite a lot you could say. For instance:
a) the average level of fines per convicted case imposed since 1974 is as follows:
'74
$289
'75
$331
'76
$543
177
$845
(the latter figure for 121 cases now
w
supersedes that in my tel. 324 $744 for 83 cases)
b) The average level of fines in '77 is roughly £100. This is no trifle, and I believe this figure to be more than the maximum fine available in the UK. The new maximum fine shortly to be introduced will be more than 10 times as much.
c) The Labour Inspectorate has been under strength (in part the result of the freeze on the expansion of the Civil Service introduced during the recession). Last September it was 40% under strength, it is now 27% under strength, and should be up to strength by about the end of this year. This speed of build-up is about all that can be done if the new entrants are to be properly trained to do their job and effectively absorbed into the Service.
d) In the last major inspection exercise (undertaken in November 176) 6,230 factories were visited with a total work force of about 81,500
and only 34 children were discovered. While there may have been evasion in some cases it does illustrate how much the dimensions of this problem can be exaggerated.
/over