§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will provide a breakdown, by Department, of the cuts in Civil Service staff costs, amounting to £175 million in 1978–79 at 1976 survey prices, which were announced in Cmnd. Paper No. 6393 but not then allocated to programmes, stating in each case the number of civil servants dispensed with.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisThe agreed savings in Civil Service expenditure for the financial year 1978–79 announced in, Cmnd. 6393 amounted to £118.7 million at 1976 survey prices. A breakdown of this sum, by Department, was given in reply to a Question from the hon. Member for Carshalton (Mr. Forman) on 27th January 1977 [Vol. 924, c. 741–2.] The cuts were made in financial terms against future provision for wages and salaries and administrative expenditure, and because of subsequent changes in the workload it is not possible to state their precise effect on numbers. Between April 1976 and July 1978, however, the latest date for which figures are available, Civil Service numbers came down by nearly 17,000.