§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total number of civilians employed by the Ministry of Defence in 1974; what is the number currently employed; what is estimated to be the number in 1979; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MasonExcluding the ROFs, the number of civilians employed by the Ministry of Defence on 1st April 1974 was some 299,000: is currently 286,000; and by the end of 1979 we expect to meet the target reductions of 40,000—including 5.000 PSA staff—from 1st April 1974 strength as announced in the Defence White Papers for 1975 and 1976. Of these, 30,000 were attributable to the defence review and 10,000 to the reductions announced in February 1976.
As far as the £100 million reduction announced on 22nd July is concerned. I do not at this stage envisage any significant effect on the MOD directly-engaged manpower. Savings are also being sought in the longer term as a result of the management review.
810WA good start has been made in effecting civilian staff savings, but achievement of the further reductions will not be easy because it also entails reducing staff in post. It requires the careful timing and organisation of the closure of units, and the redeployment of tasks on a large scale and is dependent on completion of the consultative processes with the Staff Side and trades union representatives.
§ Mr. Ernest G. Perryasked the Secretary of State for Defence in what areas and in what numbers his Department's civilian staff are engaged in industrial or revenue earning activities.
§ Mr. MasonThe main areas and approximate numbers in which civilian staff are engaged in industrial or revenue earning activities are in the Royal dockyards—34,600; on research and development—36,700; on maintenance and repair—17,600; on storage and supply—32,600; on quality assurance—11,700; in the Meteorological Office—3,500; in the Hydographic Department—1,000; and in the Sales Department—400. Some 22,000 are also employed in the Royal ordnance factories.
Within these totals the effort devoted to revenue earning activities is not readily identifiable, but it is a considerable part of the total effort in the Hydrographic and Sales Departments and the Royal ordnance factories.
§ Mr. Roperasked the Secretary of State for Defence what monetary saving he expects to make as a result of the cuts of 20,000 MOD civilian staff announced by the Minister of State, Civil Service Department, on 29th July.
§ Mr. MasonWhen the reductions in civilian staff have been completed, the financial saving is expected to amount to about £55 million per year.