§ Mr. Georgeasked the Lord Privy Seal how many committee temporary assistants are employed by each of the Select Committees; how many have been appointed since the new committees were established; what is the cost each year; and how many have had their appointments extended beyond the initial two years.
§ Mr. Biffen[pursuant to his reply, 16 January 1986, c. 693]: The Treasury and Civil Service Committee employs two temporary assistants; the Education, Science and Arts, Environment and Transport Committees each employ one.
A total of 13 such assistants have been appointed since their Committees were established. Of these, six have had their appointments extended beyond the initial two years.
The expenditure in terms of salaries paid to specialist assistants to Select Committees in each of the financial years since the Committees were set up is as follows:
Financial year £ 1980–81 14,118 1981–82 65,004 1982–83 74,293 1983–84 57,204 1984–85 58,442 1985–86 69,588