§ Mr. John Garrettasked the Minister for the Civil Service what departmental 479W functions and support services he proposes to reduce in his Department.
§ Mr. ChannonSavings of £2.3 million will be made in the staff and related costs of the Civil Service Department. These will include both efficiency savings and cuts in functions. The savings will affect most parts of the Department, and all major areas of work will be involved. The main reductions are: a reduced level of activity in the Civil Service Commission notably in advertising expenditure which will result from reduced demand for recruitment; integration of the executive officer limited competition with the executive officer open competition; some changes in the superannuation field including some computerisation; reduction in PRISM service; reduced work in personnel management policy divisions; a reduction in courses at the Civil Service college; a saving of some 10 per cent. in the net expenditure of Civil Service catering organisation; reduced capacity for management review work, and reductions in external consultancy in management services; savings by changing from weekly to monthly pay for non-industrial staff; economies in the Central Computer Agency through internal rationalisation and some delegation to Departments; and reduced scale of activity in personnel and office services resulting from the general cut in the size of the Department. The detail of some of the function cuts has yet to be settled, for example, in those areas where the scale of activity is to be reduced as a consequence of function cuts elsewhere. The staff side at both national and departmental level will be consulted throughout.