§ Sir David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many civil servants were employed by his Department in May 1979; how many are employed in February 1982; and what has been the percentage change; in each case how many were first division civil servants; and what has been the percentage change in their numbers.
§ Mr. WaddingtonStaff numbers are counted at set quarter dates. My Department employed 23,300 permanent staff at 1 April 1979 and 30,596 at 1 January 1982—an increase of 31.3 per cent.—due to the recruitment of extra staff for the payment of unemployment benefit, redundancy payments, and for special336W employment measures. In the same period, measures to improve efficiency and economy have resulted in the saving of over 4,000 staff.
"First division civil servants" is not recognised Civil Service terminology. The number of staff employed in the Department of Employment in the Principal and equivalent professional grades and above was 230 at 1 April 1979 and 214 at 1 January 1982—a decrease of 7 per cent.