§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the cost of the transfers and relocation of those stall willing to move from Hastings Army Records Office to the proposed site at Leicester and the cost of the redundancy pay and other benefits due to those who are unable to move.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownThe proposal to move the Army Record Office now at Hastings to a site at Leicester is part of a plan to co-locate all the Army's Manning and Record Offices and Regimental Pay Offices distributed throughout the United Kingdom to four sites. These proposals are currently the subject of consultations with the Departmental Staff Side and trades unions.
A preliminary survey among the staff has indicated that the costs of transferring staff from Hastings to Leicester might be about £45,000, and that the costs of redundancy payments and other benefits to its staff unwilling to move from Hastings might be about £175,000.
§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the number of staff of his Department in Hastings who will be made redundant as a result of the proposed transfer of the Army Records Office from Hastings to Leicester and the number of staff who will have to be recruited to take their places at Leicester.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownThe proposal to move the Army Record Office from Hastings to Leicester is currently the subject of consultations with the Departmental Staff Side and trades unions. A preliminary survey has indicated that 77 staff under 60 years of age might become redundant if the move takes place, and if these staff are unwilling to move with 627W the work. Should this occur it would then be necessary to recruit a total of about 100 staff to replace both those unwilling to move, and those over 60 who would be retired.
§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review the plans to transfer the Army Records Office and its staff from Hastings to Leicester; what is his estimate of the real savings in expenditure which will arise from such a transfer; and what is the most recent estimate of the cost of the new buildings for the Records Office at Leicester, excluding furniture.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownThe proposal to transfer the Army Manning and Record Office at Hastings to Leicester is currently the subject of consultations with the Departmental Staff Side and trades unions, and no decision to implement it has yet been made.
The Hastings Record Office has to move from its present premises because the lease expires in 1977. The most recent estimate of the cost of that part of the new buildings at Leicester which would house the Hastings Record Office is £400,000.
The costs of this particular move would be offset by the substantial savings achieved by the whole plan to co-locate the Army's Manning and Record and Pay Offices.