§ Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will, in the current year, employ students in the Civil Service in a temporary capacity; how many were so employed in each of 1977 and 1978; what was the cost of employment in each of those years, and what would have been the sums for unemployment or other benefits payable if all such students had taken benefit.
§ Mr. Rossi, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 25th June 1979], gave the following answer:
225WThe present freeze on recruitment to the Civil Service applies equally to temporary recruitment; ministerial approval is required for any exceptions to this ban. Approval has been given for the temporary employment this summer of 44 students on work related to security matters, 100 to 150 on social security work and a small number on scientific and environmental tasks. 584 students were employed in 1977 and 756 in 1978. Because of considerable variations in their rates of pay and periods of employment, the research needed to establish the total wage cost could only be undertaken at disproportionate expense.
As with any other casual or temporary employees, students are recruited from persons registered for employment. Students do not normally satisfy the contribution conditions for entitlement to unemployment benefit. Since supplementary benefit is means-tested it is not possible to estimate what benefits would have been payable in the circumstances described.