HC Deb 12 May 1978 vol 949 cc620-1W
Mr. Silvester

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will list the number of information officers, excluding inquiry office and library staff, in each Department and in each Government agency for which the Central Office of Information provides services.

Mr. Charles R. Morris

The table below shows by Department, including the agencies in the Department of Employment Group, the total number of staff in post in the information officer group on 1st January 1978, the latest date for which figures are available.

Total figures are given in the table since, from the information held centrally, it is not possible to distinguish information officer group posts in inquiry offices or libraries from those in other areas of information work. The Central Office of Information provides services for a number of Government agencies outside the Civil Service, but no record of their information officer numbers is held centrally.

Departments Total
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 12
Civil Service Department 18
Defence 160
Education and Science 19
Employment Group 81
Energy 20
Environment (including PSA) 67
Health and Social Security 18
Home Office 25
Information, Central Office of 508
National Savings 12
Overseas Development 11
Population, Censuses and Surveys 124
Scottish Office 23
Trade and Industry and Prices and Consumer Protection 177
Transport 13
Treasury 11
Welsh Office 21
Other Departments 30
Total 1,350

Part-time staff are counted as half units.