§ Mr. GrocottTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civil servants are employed in his Department; what are their average weekly working hours; and how many are(a) on flexitime, (b) on job-sharing schemes, (c) on a four-day working week or nine-day fortnight and (d) able to retire with full pension rights at 60 years.
§ Mr. StanleyThere are some 23,800 non-industrial civil servants employed in the Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Departments (excluding prison officer grades). The normal conditioned hours are 41 hours a week for staff in London and 42 for staff in Belfast inclusive of meal breaks.
Taking each of the elements (a) to (d) in the hon. Member's question in turn:
- (a) about 12,300 staff work flexitime;
- (b) 64 staff participate in job-sharing schemes;
- (c) three staff are working a four-day week, but none works a nine-day fortnight; and
- (d) information about the number of staff who would be able to accrue 40 years' reckonable service for pension purposes by the age of 60 is not readily available.