§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will detail the programme, by date, function, and staff numbers, for transferring work out of the Property Services Agency, Hastings;
(2) what plans he has to avoid redundancies amongst Property Services Agency staff in Hastings.
§ Mr. Chope[holding answer 14 February 1990]: The PSA will do its utmost to avoid compulsory redundancies in Hastings. Principal establishment officers of other Government Departments were invited last October to consider whether they have work which could be transferred to Hastings. We are also considering whether other PSA work might be transferred there and I am writing to other Departments to consider whether any part of their Departments' organisations might be relocated there. Until we have the responses to these invitations we shall not be able finally to work out our own plans for activities now done in Hastings, which will remain the prime focus of PSA's accounting and IT work. Should there eventually be a surplus of staff, the agency's redundancy arrangements, which include the transfer of staff to other Departments wherever possible, will apply.