§ Mr. Pinkasked the Secretary of State for Defence what reduction in the number of non-industrial civilian staff employed by the Ministry of Defence will be made in step with the planned reductions in the Armed Forces.
§ Mr. PattieSince the Government took office, United Kingdom non-industrial numbers have been reduced by over 8,000, at a time when overall United Kingdom Service strengths increased by 18,500. Further reductions in non-industrial numbers will be sought as part of the Government's aim to reduce the size of the Civil Service. The changes now being made in the defence programme together with reductions in the support infrastructure should enable civilian numbers, both industrial and non-industrial, to be reduced from the present strength of 228,000 to significantly below 200,000 in due course. It is far too soon to give a breakdown of the non-industrial numbers involved.