§ Mr. Eggarasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what was the saving in wages and salaries of civil servants achieved through the staff reduction in the three years since 1 April 1979; and what is the current rate of these savings for 1982–83;
(2) what is the number of redundancies that have occurred in his Department since 1 April 1979; and what is this number as a percentage of (a) total reductions achieved and (b) of the strength at 1 April 1979;
(3) how many staff from his Department have been transferred to other publicly funded organisations since 1 April 1979;
(4) what was the number of staff in his Department on 1 April 1979 and 1 April 1982; and what was the total reduction in staff between the two dates and expressed as a percentage of the 1 April 1979 strength.
§ Mr. WaddingtonMy Department employed 23,300 permanent staff at 1 April 1979 and 30,986 at 1 April 1982, an increase of 7,686 (33 per cent.). Increases of staff for unemployment benefit, redundancy payment and special measures work were offset by efficiency and other savings of about 4,200 staff.
37WThe net effect on salaries expenditure of these changes and those anticipated during the current year is shown as follows:
Date Permanent Staffing Level Estimated Salaries Expenditure in a Full Year at Current Prices £ million 1 April 1979 23,300 140 1 April 1982 30,986 186 1 April 1983 33,077 199 (estimated) Apart from some 40 common services posts transferred from my Department to the Manpower Services Commission, mainly consequent upon the latter's dispersal to Sheffield, and moves on normal personnel management grounds, no staff were transferred from my Department to publicly funded bodies during the three year period. 182 permanent staff have been made redundant, and, taking account of part time staff, this represents about 0.5 per cent. of 1 April 1979 staff and 2 per cent. of achieved savings.
§ Mr. Eggarasked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the annual reduction by number and percentage in his Department since 1 April 1975.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe changes in the number of permanent staff and the percentage changes in my Department since 1 April 1975 are as follows:
Change Percentage change 1 April 1975–1 April 1976 +6,373 + 39.5 1 April 1976–1 April 1977 + 1,990 +8.8 1 April 1977–1 April 1978 -52 -0.2 1 April 1978–1 April 1979 -1,150 -4.7 1 April 1979–1 April 1980 -2,612 -11.2 1 April 1980–1 April 1981 +5,118 +24.7 1 April 1981–1 April 1982 +5,180 +20.1