§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what position in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies for which his Department is responsible are filled by employees who are employed on temporary contracts of(a) 51 weeks' or (b) less than 51 weeks' duration.
§ Mr. HoramEmployees on temporary contracts, regardless of duration, arc used only where there is a genuine management need to employ people for a short period rather than to make a permanent appointment. These types of appointment arc concentrated in the more junior administrative grades or secretarial staff.
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many people he expects to employ in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies for which he is responsible on temporary contracts of(a) 51 weeks' or (b) less than 51 weeks' duration in the next three years, in each case specifying the number of employees who had previously been employed in a similar position on the same contract.
§ Mr. HoramIn my Department and in the executive agencies, we adopt a policy of staffing on a permanent basis to deal with expected levels of work, and using temporary contracts to cope with unexpected peaks of activity. It is not possible therefore to give meaningful predictions of temporary staffing levels in future years.
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for this year and each of the past five years, how many employees in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies for which his Department is responsible who have been employed on temporary contracts of(a) 51 weeks' or (b) less than 51 weeks' 621W duration are re-employed in the same or similar position at a later date.
§ Mr. Horam(i) The Department and agencies for which I am responsible did not exist in any comparable form before the 1992 election, so figures for earlier years are therefore not available. The figures since 1992 for my Department are
51 Weeks
- 1992: 4
- 1993: 4
- 1994: 4
- 1995: 4
Less than 51 Weeks
- 1992: 7
- 1993: 8
- 1994: 5
- 1995: 1
(ii) The figures since 1992 for the agencies are as follows:
Civil Service CollegeThere were no employees on temporary contracts of 51 weeks.For those on contract of less than 51 weeks, the figures are us follows:
- 1992: 0
- 1993: 4
- 1994: 6
- 1995: 1
OHS
There were no employees re-employed on contract of either up to or exactly 51 weeks.
RAS
There were no employees re-employed on temporary contracts of 51 weeks.For those on contracts of less than 51 weeks, the figures are as follows:
- 1992: 10
- 1993: 4
- 1994: 2
- 1995: 0
Chessington Computer CentreThere were no employees re-employed on temporary on temporary contracts of 51 weeks.For those on contract of less than 51 weeks, the figures are as follows:
- 1992: 2
- 1993: 0
- 1994: 0
- 1995: 0
COI
There were no employees on temporary contracts of 51 weeks.For those on contracts of less than 51 weeks, the figures are us as follows:
- 1992: 18
- 1993: 11
- 1994: 2
- 1995: 0
HMSO
622WThere were no employees re-employed on temporary contracts of either up to or exactly 51 weeks.
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many employees in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies supervised by his Department have been employed on temporary contracts of(a) 51 weeks' or (b) less than 51 weeks' duration for this year and each of the past five years, in each case specifying what percentage of the respective total workforce these employees constituted.
§ Mr. Horam(i) The Department and agencies for which I am responsible did not exist in any comparable form before the 1992 election, so figures for earlier years are therefore not available. The figures for my Department since 1992 are:
Year Total Percentage 51 weeks 1992 4 0.30 1993 4 0.30 1994 4 0.30 1995 4 0.30 Less than 51 weeks 1992 17 1.25 1993 43 3.33 1994 54 4.10 1995 7 0.50 (iii) The figures for the agencies since 1992 are as follows:
Civil Service College1 Year Total Percentage Less than 51 weeks 1992 6.0 2.60 1993 7.0 2.90 1994 7.0 2.75 1995 14.5 5.65 1 There were no employees on temporary contracts of 51 weeks.
OHS1 Year Total Percentage Less than 51 weeks 1992 2 1.60 1993 4 3.40 1994 0 0 1995 1 0.93 1 There were no employees on temporary contracts of 51 weeks
RAS1 Year Total Percentage Less than 51 weeks 1992 19 10 1993 15 10 1994 11 8 1995 5 4 1 In 1994 there was one person employed on a temporary contract of 51 weeks (0.1 per cent.) and there were none for the remaining years.
623W
Chessington Computer Centre Year Total Percentage 51 weeks 1992 2 0.4 1993 0 0 1994 2 0.5 1995 0 0
Chessington Computer Centre Year Total Percentage Less than 51 weeks 1992 5 1.0 1993 2 0.4 1994 1 0.2 1995 2 0.5
COI1 Year Total Percentage Less than 51 weeks 1992 71 10.3 1993 49 8.3 1994 35 6.6 1995 0 0 1 There were no employees on temporary contracts of 51 weeks.
HMSO Year Total Percentage 51 weeks 1992 1 0.06 1993 1 0.06 1994 1 0.05 1995 0 0 Less than 51 weeks 1992 38 0.58 1993 27 0.40 1994 70 2.0 1995 0 0
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what evidence he has that Government Departments or executive agencies supervised by Government Departments are abusing the extension of temporary contracts of 51 weeks or less in duration in the recruitment and appointment of non-permanent employees.
§ Mr. HoramIn the course of their 1993–94 programme of monitoring of a sample of departmental and agency recruitment, the civil service commissioners found a number of instances where temporary staff appointed without fair and open competition were retained beyond 12 months without there being any demonstrable exceptional circumstance as required by the Civil Service Order in Council 1991. These instances were not widespread and, following a reminder of the rules from the commissioners, the pattern has not been repeated in 1994–95.
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish the full terms of employment as specified to employees in his Department and all executive agencies for which he is responsible who are employed on a temporary contract of(a) 51 weeks' or (b) less than 51 weeks' duration.
§ Mr. HoramThe majority of staff on temporary contracts are issued with a standard letter of appointment. It is too long to he reproduced here and I shall be writing to the hon. Member separately enclosing a copy.
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what guidance has been issued in respect of the recruitment and appointment of non-permanent624W employees in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies supervised by his Department.
§ Mr. HoramMy Department and the executive agencies follow the rules set out in the civil service management code for the recruitment and appointment of non-permanent employees. A copy of the code can he found in the Library of the House.