§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Prime Minister what is, for each organisation covered by the publication "Public Bodies 1984" (a) the number of persons paid by public funds and the total number of all such persons and (b) the number of persons paid from public funds who are involved in those organisations listed in part (3) of the introduction as being excluded from "Public Bodies 1984"; and what was the cost of each organisation in (a) and (b) and the overall cost.
§ The Prime MinisterIt is not possible to give all the information requested from material held centrally, and it would be disproportionately costly to provide information which is readily available on an itemised basis. Detailed information on both costs and numbers for the organisations concerned can, however, be obtained from Public Bodies 1984 (which gives staff numbers, expenditure, and public funding of National Health Service authorities and executive bodies), "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1985–86 to 1987–88" (Cmnd. 9428), Supply Estimatee, "Local Government Financial Statistics in England and Wales", the annual article in "Economic Trends", "Employment in the Public and Private Sectors" and from annual reports.
In category (a) the total number of people employed by NHS authorities and executive bodies which are wholly or partly financed by public funds is some 1,222,000. Advisory bodies and tribunals are generally staffed by sponsoring Departments and staff are therefore covered in central Government manpower totals. The 1,584,000 staff of nationalised industries and public corporations are paid by the bodies concerned, not from public funds, although some of these bodies receive money voted by Parliament.
In category (b) the organisations whose staff are paid from public are central Government Departments, the general criminal and civil court system, and local authorities. The total number of these staff (excluding staff paid from trading funds and bodies controlled by local authorities) is some 2,895,000.