§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will list the number of banking accounts held by the Government or ministerial Departments; to what extent the Co-operative banking services are used by Her Majesty's Government; and when such banking facilities with the Co-operative Bank commenced.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesI have been asked to reply.
The Co-operative Bank is included in a published list of banks at which, since 1964, Government Departments have been empowered to open public accounts without prior Treasury authority. Consequently, the information my hon. Friend wants is not centrally available and could not be provided without a dis-
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TABLE 1 The following table sets out the number of retirements and resignations of Home Civil Servants in the grades of Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Permanent Secretary in each of the 3 years 1975–77. 1975 Permanent Secretary Deputy Secretary Under Secretary MAFF — 1 2 Cabinet Office — — — Civil Service Department — — 1 Customs and Excise — — 2 Ministry of Defence 2 2 7 Department of Education and Science — 1 2 Employment — 1 2 Energy — — — Departments of Environment/Transport 1 1 7 Department of Health and Social Security 1 2 5 Home Office — 2 3 Departments of Industry/Trade/Prices and Consumer Protection — — 5 Inland Revenue — — 1 Overseas Development — 1 1 Treasury — — 2 Northern Ireland Office — — 1 Scottish Office — — 4 Welsh Office — — — Other Departments 1 2 10 Total 5 13 55 proportionate expenditure of time and resources. The facilities of the Bank were, however, used by Departments before 1964, although the date when such use commenced is not known.