§ 26. Mr. Doverasked the Minister of Transport if he plans to put forward further proposals on measures that will reduce the number of Civil Service staff employed by his Department.
§ Mr. FowlerI already plan an 18 per cent. saving in staff costs over the next three years on top of a 4 per cent. reduction already achieved in 1979–80. 2,480 posts will be shed through changes in the operation of vehicle excise duty, in arrangements for managing the annual inspection of heavy goods vehicles, in simplifying bus licensing controls, and through a variety of internal efficiency measures. In addition, I am reviewing various other areas of the work of my Department and hope as a result to identify further manpower savings in due course.
§ 44. Mr. Rostasked the Minister of Transport how many civil servants were employed by his Department in April and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. FowlerOn 1 April 1979 the total number of staff in post in the Department of Transport was 14,036 of whom 13,310 were non-industrial and 726 were industrial. The corresponding figures for 1 January 1980 are: total staff in post 13,600 of whom 12,925 are non-industrial and 675 are industrial.
The figures exclude 3,351 staff in April 1979 and 3,219 staff in January 1980 in the Department of the Environment providing a common service for the Departments of the Environment and Transport, and 1,685 staff in April 1979 and 1,635 staff in January 1980 in the joint regional 287W offices of the two Departments, in respect of whom the Department of Transport makes an assessed contribution to costs.