§ Mr. Peter Griffithsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the number of staff in post in central Government Departments on 1 July.
§ Mr. HayhoeAt 1 July 1983 there were 642,800 staff in post —514,800 non-industrial and 128,000 industrial; that is a reduction of 6,100 from the revised figure of 648,900 for 1 April 1983. The number of civil servants has fallen by 89,800 or 12.2 per cent. since the beginning of the last Parliament. This means that we now have the smallest Civil Service for 22 years.