§ 7.7 p.m.
§ LORD BROUGHSHANEMy Lords, I beg to ask the question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government, what is now the total number of persons in the employ of the State as compared with the number employed before the war; what additions have been made in the number of such persons during the current year; and what further additions to State employees it is estimated will be required when the increased staffs now being recruited for the Ministry of National Insurance, the Ministry of Health and other Government Departments have been engaged.]
§ LORD WALKDENThe non-industrial staff of the Civil Service totalled just under 400,000 on April 1, 1939, the date nearest to the beginning of the war for which firm figures are available. The number employed at July 1, 1946, was just under 709,500. Since January 1, 1946, the number has increased by 18,500 over the whole Service. In 1939 the number of staff employed on work now performed by the Ministry of National Insurance (other than the Family Allowance Scheme) was about 7,000. Since the beginning of 1946 the numbers employed by the Ministry of National Insurance have increased from 7,900 to rather more than 12,000. The ultimate number to be employed by this Ministry may be of the order of 32,000 to 33,000, distributed as follows: London headquarters 500, regional and local offices 25,000, Newcastle office 7,000.
To the extent of about 15,000 to 16,000 persons, this increase of staff will represent the transfer of functions from approved societies and the replacement of staff now engaged on work arising from the Workmen's Compensation Acts. No corresponding increase is expected in the numbers of staff to be employed by the Ministry of Health. There only about 500 additional staff will be needed 670 in the next few years to handle the Ministry's increased duties. No firm estimate of the future overall size of the Service can be made at the present time.
§ LORD BROUGHSHANEDo I under stand from what the noble Lord has just said and the figures which he has given that, speaking generally, the number of persons estimated to be in Government employ in the immediate future will be in the neighbourhood of 1,000,000, and, having regard to the urgency of finding persons to engage in industry and the lack of people available for industry, may I ask the Government to take into consideration the desirability of getting this vast number of civil servants reduced as much as possible in the early future, especially as similar increases in unproductive labour have taken place in local government?
§ LORD WALKDENThe noble Lord must not take it that I indicated that the persons employed in the Civil Service would approximate to one million. I do not think that at all. I can add nothing to the figures I have already given, and the further supplementary question goes a long way beyond the original question.