§ Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Minister for the Civil Service what are the numbers and types of computer installations now employed in Government Departments; what personal information is stored on them; and what controls are imposed on access to such information.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisThere are 141 computer installations in Government Departments, excluding the area of national security. They are employed on a wide variety of administrative and scientific tasks including, for example, revenue assessment and collection, the collection of social security contributions, departmental accounting and bill paying, stores accounting, pay, statistics, etc. Twenty-five installations in 16 Departments store personal information about members of the public which is required for the administrative systems within which they operate—for example, the Department of Health and Social Security keeps records of national insurance contributors. Some other installations hold information about Government employees for pay and personnel record purposes.
Controls are imposed by legislative and administrative means and each Department is responsible for safeguarding the information it holds. Methods of control
Grade Numbers Pay Permanent Secretary … … … … 46 £16,350 Deputy Secretary … … … … 155 £11,100 Undersecretary … … … … 614 £9,000 Assistant Secretary and equivalent grades in General Service Class … … … … 1,833 £6,700–£8,850 Senior Principal and equivalent grades in General Service Class … … … … 1,219 £6,000–£7,050 Directing Grade A … … … … 29 £8,916 Directing Grade B … … … … 128 £8,850 Superintending Grade … … … … 494 £6,700–£7,750 Chief Scientific Officer … … … … 32 £8,950 Deputy Chief Scientific Officer … … … … 220 £8,100–£8,878 Senior Principal Scientific Officer … … … … 679 £6,700–£7,750 5,449