§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many civil servants have been required to retire prematurely in the interests of the public service in every year since 1979, in which departments they served, and how many were in the clerical officer, executive officer and higher grades respectively.
§ Baroness YoungThe table below shows the numbers of non-industrial civil servants who were retired prematurely on grounds of inefficiency, limited efficiency, structure, and redundancy in 1979, 1980 and 1981, from all Government departments.
Grade Level 1979 1980 1981 Higher Executive Officer and above 158 110 765 Executive Officer 25 30 307 Clerical Officer and below 171 245 385 TOTAL 354 385 1,457 Source: Mandate.
In addition, there were 2,440, 2,383 and 2,059 premature retirements on health grounds in each of these years respectively. For 1980–81, there were also some 750 departures under a special voluntary early retirement scheme introduced to help departments meet their manpower and cash targets. Moreover, Civil Service manpower reductions have resulted in the compulsory retirement of many civil servants aged between 60 and 65 who would otherwise have continued in service.
Figures for industrial civil servants are not available centrally.
House adjourned at twenty-one minutes past nine o'clock.