HC Deb 04 June 1980 vol 985 cc760-5W
Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on how Property Services Agency Supplies has fulfilled the requirements placed on it under the Trading Fund Order 1976, identifying for each financial year the turnover and the return on assets achieved; and what rate of return has been set for the current financial year.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

The financial objective of PSA Supplies trading fund for the period 1 April 1976 to 31 March 1981 is to earn sufficient revenue to meet all costs and cover the higher of (a) interest on long-term borrowing or (b) a return of 10 per cent, per annum on average net assets at current values.

Performance in the three years to 31 March 1979 has been:

Surplus after interest on long-term borrowing:
1978–79 £2,614,000
1977–78 £5,213,000
1976–77 £3,856,000
Surplus as a percentage of average net assets:
1978–79 17 per cent.
1977–78 28 per cent.
1976–77 27 per cent.

Figures for 1979–80 are not yet available.

Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the value of the supplies provided by the supplies division of the Property Services Agency, now known as PSA Supplies, for each financial year since 1976–77 and including that year; and whether he will break down those figures to show specific costs of the major items of expenditure along the lines given in reply to the hon. Member for Melton on 5 March 1976.

£ million
New works Maintenance
Total Overseas Total Overseas
1976 … … … … … 408 46 296 72
1977 … … … … … 413 44 335 87
1978 … … … … … 402 55 394 106
1979 … … … … … 476 63 396 97
1980 … … … … … 634 70 442 93

Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the present number of staff in post of the Property Services Agency; whether he will set out in tabular form the number of persons in the main staff groups, along the lines given in the reply to the hon. Member for Melton on 13 June 1974; and whether he will give the

1 April 1975 1 April 1976 1 April 1977 1 April 1978 1 April 1979 1 April 1980
NON-INDUSTRIAL STAFF
Chief Executive … … 1 1 1 1 1 1
Deputy Secretary … … 4 4 4 4 3 3
Under Secretary … … 14 15 15 15 14 15
Executive Directors … … 12 11 11 11 10 10

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

Sales by PSA Supplies were:

1978–79 1977–78 1976–77
£million £million £million
Commodities 112 115 123
Operational Services 20 19 17
Customer Services 30 29 28
162 163 168

To the above might be added demands for commodities placed directly by clients on suppliers under contracts arranged by PSA Supplies, which were approximately:

1978–79 1977–78 1976–77
£million £million £million
166 147 116

Figures for 1979–80 are not yet available.

Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the value of the work, identified separately as new construction and maintenance, carried out by the Property Services Agency in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979, respectively; how much of it was outside the United Kingdom; and what is the anticipated figure for 1980.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

The figures at historic prices, including work on repayment for other bodies, are as follows:

equivalent figures on 1 April for each of the years 1975 to 1980, inclusive.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

On 1 April 1980 the numbers of staff in post were 36,626, comprising 18,284 non-industrials and 18,342 industrials. The following table gives comparative figures for the previous years by main staff groups:

1 April 1975 1 April 1976 1 April 1977 1 April 1978 1 Aprii 1979 1 Aprii 1980
Administration group:
Assistant Secretary 24 25 26 23 22 22
Senior Principal 23 25 22 23 22 22
Principal 84 83 87 83 85 83
SEO 211 214 204 191 192 188
HEO 515 521 508 475 466 458
HEO(A) and Administrator Trainee 9 9 12 9 10 7
Executive Officer 1,163 1,179 1,136 1,116 1,123 1,085
Clerical Officer 3,287 3,208 3,057 2,932 2,874 2,677
Clerical Assistant 1,502 1,410 1,309 1,284 1,216 954
Professional and technology grades
Directing grade 34 34 34 34 33 34
Superintending grade 162 168 169 163 172 167
Principal Professional and Tech nology Officer (PPTO) 615 641 617 596 603 614
PTO I 1,995 2,126 2,114 2,053 2,106 2,099
PTO II 2,454 2,579 2,613 2,595 2,653 2,658
PTO III 3,147 3,297 3,268 3,238 3,226 3,127
PTO IV 1,838 1,949 1,844 1,735 1,679 1,461
Other technical and drawing office grades (including students) 1,002 1,074 1,014 850 864 729
Science grades 23 18 16 14 11 10
Typing grades 1,102 1,135 1,042 954 958 877
Office Keeper, Paperkeeper and Messengerial grades 573 558 518 532 545 504
All other grades 802 767 715 528 506 479
20,596 21,051 20,356 19,459 19,394 18,284
INDUSTRIAL STAFF 23,256 23,386 22,443 21,341 20,677 18,342
TOTALS 43,852 44,437 42,799 40,800 40,071 36,626

Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many building workers are employed directly by the Property Services Agency; and what were the equivalent figures on 1 April for each of the years 1975 to 1980, inclusive.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

The total numbers of industrial workers employed on works services in the Property Services Agency on 1 May 1980 and on 1 April in each of the years 1975 to 1980 were:

1 May 1980 15,780
1 April 1975 19,870
1 April 1976 20,270
1 April 1977 19,480
1 April 1978 18,640
1 April 1979 18,050
1 April 1980 15,980

Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of dwellings completed by

the Property Services Agency in each year since 1974; and what is the programme for the current year.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

The figures are as follows:

1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
(estimated)
2,008 2,240 831 968 822 479 519

Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will set out in tabular form, for 1 April 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980, respectively, the staff in post of the supplies division of the Property Services Agency; and what has been the total annual cost to public funds of this division in each year, including provision for salaries and administrative overheads.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

Following is the information taken from the PSA

Supplies' annual report and accounts for the years concerned:

1980 1979 1973 1977 1976
Staff in Post at 1 April … … 3,277 3,629 3,734 4,022 4,100

1978–79 £million 1977–78 £million 1976–77 £million
Total costs in historic terms were: Purchases of goods and services for resale … … … 125 123 130
Salaries, wages, NI superannuation … … … 19 19 18
Other administrative overheads 13 13 14
157 155 162
Costs for 1979–80 are not yet available.

Since PSA Supplies operates profitably on a trading fund basis, no direct costs to public funds were incurred.

Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will set out in tabular form for each year since 1974, taking 1 April as the

1 April 1975 1 April 1976 1 April 1977 1 April 1978 1 April 1979 1 Aprii 1980
(i) Quantity surveyors … … 370 397 425 435 432 417
(ii) Quantity surveying assistants 463 471 446 472 488 458

At 1 April 1980 the number of chartered surveyors was 793 and non-ohartered quantity surveyors was 76.

March 1976 January 1977
(i) Chartered surveyors … … … … 859 880
(ii) Non-chartered quantity surveyors … … 47 36