§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many Property Services Agency jobs in the London borough of Greenwich would be lost if maintenance work on Ministry of Defence establishments in the area was put out to private contractors; what consideration is being given to such a policy; and when a decision will be reached.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergIt is Government policy to transfer maintenance work to the private sector wherever possible but for security and other reasons directly employed labour will still be used fairly extensively on some defence establishments. Discussions are now taking place with the trade union side about the transfer of work. Most Government buildings in the borough of Greenwich are dealt with by district offices at Greenwich and Woolwich, where 296 industrial staff are currently employed for work on both civil and defence establishments. At the moment we expect numbers to fall by about 150 over a period, which will depend on the rate of natural wastage.