§ Sir J. Langford-Holtasked the Attorney-General what was the total number of unpaid public appointments made by him and the Lord Chancellor in each of the last four years as recorded in the "Directory of Paid Public Appointments made by Ministers"; and what was the total cost to the public purse of these appointments in each of these years.
§ The Attorney-GeneralI am not myself responsible for any of the appointments listed in the "Directory of Paid Public Appointments made by Ministers."
Almost all the paid public appointments for which my noble Friend the Lord Chancellor is responsible are of a judicial nature and are not therefore published in the directory. Those appointments for which he is responsible and which do appear in the directory are to offices of which the remuneration is the responsibility of other Ministers.
As at 1st June this year there were in post about 775 full-time office-holders appointed by, or on the advice, of my noble Friend for whose remuneration he is responsible. The total annual cost to central Government funds of these appointments is approximately £8.6 million for salaries and £537,000 for expenses. Comparable figures for 1977 were about 760 full-time appointments at a total cost of about £8.3 million for salaries and £501,700 for expenses. Equivalent figures for earlier years and figures for part-time appointments are not readily available.