Miss Wardasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how many staff associations are represented on the Civil Service Whitley Council; and how many are not so represented.
§ Mr. AsshetonThere are at present 330 associations of civil servants which have been registered as approved associations under the Civil Service (Approved Associations) Regulations, 1927, and which so far as is known, are still in existence. The National Whitley Council has 17 main constituent organisations, but they have affiliated to them a large number of smaller associations, which thus are also represented on the Council; I regret that the exact number is not readily available; but it may be taken as including the great majority of the 330 mentioned above. I should like to take this opportunity of explaining that the figure of 490,000 civil servants given in my answer to the hon. Lady's Question on 24th May is the actual membership of the associations represented on the National Whitley Council directly or indirectly, and that this membership is approximately three-quarters of the total number of civil servants in the grades represented collectively by the Council. I regret that the reply which I gave on 24th May was somewhat misleading.