§ Mr Corbettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of additional temporary staff, broken down by Civil Service category, now working at the Erdington, Birmingham, office of his Department; on what date they were introduced and for what period; what additional payments are made to such staff over normal salary; and how much overtime has been worked in the offices where the additional staff are normally employed.
§ Mr. NewtonThe following additional staff are currently working at the Department's Erdington office:
Numbers LOIs 13 LOIIs 42 CAs 8 63 These 63 are a combination of regional reserves, volunteers from other offices and casual staff. The 63 additional staff will be working at Erdington this week. However, varying numbers of additional staff have been used in the office since 31 January 1983, though very few before the middle of March.
The 25 volunteer staff at LOI and LOII level are expected to return to their own offices after 8 July. Regional reserve staff will be withdrawn from the office as recovery permits.
Payments are in general made to these staff in accordance with the Department's normal arrangements regarding overtime pay and payment for subsistence and travelling expenses. The payment of subsistence allowances to volunteer staff is, however, exceptional and is being made as a special concession.
42WFrom January to June 1983 a total of 5,937 days have been used on overtime in the 30 offices from which volunteers have been drawn; this does not solely reflect the absence of the volunteers, but other factors including the introduction of housing benefit.