HC Deb 22 March 1957 vol 567 cc75-6W
Mr. Russell

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will reconcile the total number of non-industrial Government employees shown in Command Paper No. 90 with the number given for 1st January, 1957, in Command Paper No. 89.

Mr. Powell

Broadly speaking the difference is explained by the exclusion from Command 90 of staff employed overseas and in Northern Ireland (some 17,000) and the use of a different basis of definition of part-time staff. In both returns two part-time staff are reckoned as one full-time. But for the purposes of Command 90 part-time staff are defined as those working more than 10 but less than 30 hours per week, whereas for the purposes of Command 89 part-time staff are defined as those working more than 10 hours per week but less than the full hours of the grade to which they belong. These differences are related to the terms of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, 1944. A general explanation of these differences is given in Note 3 of Command 90.