HC Deb 19 December 1983 vol 51 c16
33. Mr. Chapman

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the current annual percentage of civil servants who retire from the service voluntarily prior to reaching the normal retirement age.

The Minister of State, Treasury (Mr. Barney Hayhoe)

Special voluntary early retirement schemes, applying to staff aged 55 and over, are introduced from time to time to help reduce manpower numbers and improve overall efficiency. Some 1,350 or 0.3 per cent. of non-industrial staff retired under such a scheme earlier this year.

Mr. Chapman

I recognise that the percentage of those seeking voluntary retirement or retirement at the normal age is quite high— it was about 11.8 per cent. four years ago and must still be a high proportion—but will my hon. Friend give an assurance that the further planned reductions in the Civil Service, whether among industrial or non-industrial civil servants, should be achievable with few, if any, forced redundanies?

Mr. Hayhoe

I hope that it will be possible to achieve the reductions that have been announced without recourse to enforced redundancies, but I cannot give an absolute assurance to that effect.

Mr. Eastham

Has the Minister's attention been drawn to the fact that a senior civil servant in the north west, who has been waiting several months for early retirement because he believes he has a conflict of interests, is receiving his full salary of about £20,000 a year? Does the Minister agree that is a disgrace and that the House is entitled to a statement about the case?

Mr. Hayhoe

I am not aware of this particular case. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman should raise it first with the Minister responsible.

Mr. Meadowcroft

Is the Minister sympathetic to the point that, prior to retirement, members of the Civil Service should be able to take full-time or part-time secondment to the schemes that are available, such as the cross-over scheme and the action resource centre scheme, which are particularly suitable for people coming up to retirement who may wish to ease themselves into voluntary work?

Mr. Hayhoe

I am prepared to consider any suggestions to that end, but one must be careful not to increase the burden on public expenditure.

Dr. McDonald

Is it part of the Government's policy to encourage people to leave or, indeed, to take early retirement from the Civil Service to allow the incidence of low pay to increase dramatically? Is the Minister aware that one in four civil servants, including security guards, telephonists and others, earn less than £100 per week and that therefore their pay is extremely low? What will the Government do about that?

Mr. Hayhoe

I congratulate the hon. Lady on her ingenuity in getting a question about low pay into one concerned with voluntary retirement. If she is seeking to make the level at which people leave the Civil Service voluntarily an indication of how they regard pay, I must tell her that voluntary resignations are about 50 per cent. of the level of three or four years ago.