HC Deb 15 February 1999 vol 325 cc514-5W
Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the total number of staff(a) in his Department and (b) in each of the agencies for which he is responsible and their location in (i) London, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland and (iv) each of the English regions. [70477]

Mr. Straw

I refer my hon. Friend to "Civil Service Statistics 1998", a copy of which is in the Library.

Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to relocate staff in(a) his Department and (b) the agencies for which he is responsible to the regions of the United Kingdom with the highest levels of unemployment; and what plans he has further to decentralise the location of his Department and its agencies. [70463]

Mr. Straw

Thirty-six posts were relocated from central London to Merseyside over the period January to August 1997.

The new Criminal Records Bureau will be established in Merseyside in 2000–2001 under the management of the United Kingdom Passport Agency and will employ up to 1,200 staff.

A total of 31,574 Home Office staff (59.7 per cent.) are located outside London and the South East (including 30,244 (66.5 per cent.) Agency staff).