§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many provisional applications for voluntary redundancy have been received from junior official grades at(a) the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, (b) the Prison Service and (c) the other agencies and parts of his Department in the last six months; what assessment he has made of morale within his Department; and if he will make a statement. [20617]
§ Mr. StrawIn October, staff in the grades Administrative Assistant, Administrative Officer, Executive Officer and Higher Executive Officer working in Home Office offices in Croydon and Greater London were invited to make provisional applications for a possible voluntary redundancy scheme. A total of 1,002 provisional applications were received: 517 from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, 177 from the Prison Service and 308 from the centrally managed Home Office offices.
A number of surveys of staff opinions and attitudes have been carried out in the central Home Office, the Prison Service and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in recent years. I shall place copies of the Home Office Staff Survey Report 1997 in the Library.
In addition, I have had two formal meetings with the Home Office Trade Union side this year.