Executive Agencies (Hansard, 25 April 1995)

§ Mr. Lang

[holding answer 4 April 1995]: I have asked the chief executives of the agencies for which my Department is responsible to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Alan W. Ramage to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995: I have been asked to reply, in relation to Registers of Scotland Executive Agency, to your question to the Secretary of State for Scotland about jobs lost to Agencies in the past two years. There have been no jobs lost over the past two years due to the employment of contractors. Overall staff numbers in the Registers of Scotland have declined from 1257.5 on 1 April 1993 to 1065.5 on 1 April 1995. Reductions in staff numbers have resulted from a range of efficiency saving measures and the need to align the size of the organisation to match the market demand for our services.

Letter from K. MacRae to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995: I refer to the Parliamentary Question which you tabled recently to the Secretary of State for Scotland seeking information on the loss of jobs in Agencies during the past two years. I have been asked to reply in respect of the Student Awards Agency for Scotland which was launched in April 1994. In 1994–95, no jobs have been lost to the Agency due to the employment of contractors or otherwise. I trust this represents the information which you were seeking.

Letter from Graeme N. Munro to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995: The Secretary of State for Scotland has asked me to reply on behalf of Historic Scotland to your recent question about jobs which have been taken over by contractors or have disappeared in the last 2 years. Since April 1993 23.5 posts (full-time equivalents) have been given up in Historic Scotland. Of this total 4 posts have been contracted out, with the staff either being redeployed elsewhere within the Agency or retiring. Of the remaining 19.5 posts, 15 were saved as a consequence of the market testing process where the decision was to retain the service in-house. The remaining 4.5 posts were saved by withdrawing staffing from 5 of the least frequently visited monuments in care. I hope this information meets your needs.

Letter from Andrew Macleod to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995: I have been asked to reply in respect of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Scotland concerning the loss of jobs in executive agencies of The Scottish Office in the past 2 years. 465W During the financial year 1993–94 and 1994–95 no jobs in the Agency have been taken over by contractors. The average number of staff employed by the Agency during 1993–94 was 266, compared with 265 in the previous year. The final figure for 1994–95 will be published in the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts. We estimate that average employment for the year was around 260. I hope this information is helpful.

Letter from E. W. Frizzell to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995: The Secretary of State for Scotland has asked me to reply, in respect of the Scottish Prison Service, to your question about the loss of jobs in agencies over the last two years as a result of contracting out of work. In the Scottish Prison Service market testing has been confined to the part of the Service that maintains buildings and services. A total of 10 establishments have been market tested and in-house teams have been successful in 9 competitions. The number of Scottish Prison Service staff involved in this area has been reduced by seventy-four over the period from 348 at 1 April 1993 to 274 at 1 April 1994. The reduction in numbers of staff largely reflects a reorganisation and restructuring of the in-house teams within the SPS. No staff were made redundant as a consequence of contractors being successful in winning the contract at one establishment.

Letter from Norman MacLeod to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995. The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Question about jobs lost to Scottish Office Agencies in the past two years, so far as the Scottish Office Pensions Agency is concerned. No jobs have been lost to the Agency as a result of work being taken over by contractors but measures to improve efficiency, mainly through better use of information technology, have removed the need for 5 posts. In the same period, however, a number of new posts have been created to deal with new work.

Letter from Patrick Cadell to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995: In reply to your question on the number of jobs lost to agencies, I have to say that no jobs have been lost, and no jobs have disappeared as a consequence of our becoming a Next Steps Agency.

Letter from Dr. R. K. M. Hay to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 25 April 1995: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply on behalf of the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA) to your recent question about jobs which have been taken over by contractors or have disappeared in the last 2 years. In the last 2 years, 4 Security Guard posts in SASA have been taken over by contractors. To date, no posts have disappeared.