§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service what are the costs of the 46,000 additional civil servants employed since October 1974.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisBetween October 1974 and April 1977 the size of the Civil Service increased by 58,400. About 20,800 of this number resulted from this Government's decision to bring the staff of the Manpower Services Commission and its Agencies within the Civil Service, which did not involve additional cost. The remaining 37,600 were new recruits. I have no separate figures for their cost, but it will have been well below the average of £4,900 a year which applied in 1976–77 and which I gave to the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mr. Mitchell) on 7th February 1977.—[Vol. 923, c. 499–500.]