§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment, of the total number of people who left employment at the Manpower Services Commission since May 1979, how many have gone to other sections of the Civil Service; how many have left for employment in the private sector; and how many have retired early.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that between 1 May 1979 and 1 April 1980 the total staff employed by the MSC (non-industrial, industrial and casual) fell from 26,286 to 25,863. During that period 257 permanent non-industrial staff were transferred out of MSC—184 to other parts of the Department of Employment group and 73 to other Government Departments—and a further 73 retired below the normal retiring age, the great majority of whom retired for reasons of ill-health. During the same period 2,258 permanent non-industrial staff resigned their appointments but it is not known how many of those went into employment in the private sector. Staff do not always indicate what they intend to do after they resign and consequently no information is recorded.
Comparable information in respect of industrial and casual staff is not held centrally and it could be extracted only at an undue cost in staff time.