HC Deb 26 November 1984 vol 68 cc615-6
57. Mr. Eggar

asked the Minister for the Civil Service how many individuals are currently working in the efficiency unit of the Cabinet Office.

Mr. Hayhoe

The efficiency unit works under the direction of Sir Robin Ibbs, the Prime Minister's adviser on efficiency. It has eight staff, including two secretaries and a clerical officer.

Mr. Eggar

Is it not surprising that there are so few staff in this unit? Does it mean that the Government are now relying more on Departments internally to improve their own efficiency?

Mr. Hayhoe

The efficiency unit is deliberately small. Indeed, Lord Rayner recently said that Goliath should be matched with David, not with a smaller version of Goliath. I hope that my hon. Friend will say "Hear, hear" to that. Improvements on the scale we seek can come only when public servants at every level and in every Department are concerned to see that we get better value for money. The efficiency unit is a useful spur and incentive to achieve just that.

Mr. Soley

What guarantee can the Minister give to those people that the principle of national security will not be invoked to prevent them or any other group of cavil servants from joining trade unions?

Mr. Hayhoe

I readily repeat the guarantees that were given time and again from this Dispatch Box by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and by my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary when the affairs of GCHQ were rather more prominent in the public mind.

Mr. Wrigglesworth

Will the Minister reconsider that answer? Is he aware that, in view of the House of Lords decision on GCHQ, many civil servants employed in offices such as the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence worry that the pretext of national security may be used to ban trade union membership?

Mr. Hayhoe

No representations of such anxiety have arrived on my desk. It is difficult to see how that question can be linked to the work of the efficiency unit of the Cabinet Office, but one is always amazed by the ingenuity of Opposition Members.

Mr. Cormack

What are the two most notable achievements of the unit?

Mr. Hayhoe

The unit has contributed to the saving of about £330 million a year on current expenditure in the Civil Service and to the saving of as many as 24,000 Civil Service jobs, which are considerable achievements for such a small unit.