HC Deb 19 March 1982 vol 20 cc219-20W
Mr. Allan Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of local authority expenditure was made up by wages and salaries in each of the last five years.

Mr. King

Following is the information for England:

Wages and Salaries* as a proportion of local authority current

expenditure†

Per cent
1976–77 79.7
1977–78 80.6
1978–79 80.5
1979–80 78.7
1980–81 80.0
* Wages and salaries include employers' contributions to superannuation funds and payments to beneficiaries under pension schemes not chargeable to superannuation funds.
† Wages and salaries within current expenditure have been shown as the proportion of gross current expenditure—i.e. gross of sales, fees, charges etc.

Mr. Allan Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the salary and wage bill for each major group of local authority employees in each of the past three years (a) for local government in England and (b) in total, namely 100 per cent. of employee costs; and how many full-time equivalent employees made up each of the relevant groups.

Mr. King

I regret that the information is not available.

Mr. Allan Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of local authority current expenditure was made up of items other than wages and salaries in each of the past three years; and what these items were in each of those years.

Mr. King

Following is the information for England:

Running expenses as a proportion of local authority current

expenditure*

Per cent.
1978–79 19.5
1979–80 21.3
1980–81 20.0
* Running expenses within current expenditure have been shown as the proportion of gross current expenditure—i.e. gross of sales, fees, charges etc. Gross current expenditure consists of expenditure on wages and salaries and on running expenses.

A breakdown of the running expenses is given in "Local Government Financial Statistics", copies of which are in the Library.

Mr. Allan Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the average cost of a full-time equivalent employee in local government in each of the past five years.

Mr. King

Following are the available estimates for England:

Wage bill† per full-time equivalent employee (all services)
£
1976–77 4,025
1977–78 4,350
1978–79 4,825
1979–80 5,725
1980–81 *
* Not available.
† The wage bill includes employers' contributions to superannuation funds and payments to beneficiaries under pension schemes not chargeable to superannuation funds.