§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if any of the 1,620 staff savings in his Department, and the Ordnance Survey and the 4,730 in the Property Services Agency have yet been made; and, if not, when he expects them to be achieved and in what divisions, at what grades, and, in which geographical regions.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe savings to be made by my Department and the Ordnance Survey as a contribution to the manpower reductions announced in the House on 6 December last are to be phased over the three year period 1980–81–1982–83. A proportion of these savings has already been made. I expect the remainder to be made within the three-year period. The process of identification of all those posts that are still to be saved is bound to take time, however, and it is too early to specify with any precision the divisions and grades concerned, and the geographical location of the reductions.
668W
§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for the Environment in which divisions at what grades and in what geographical area the 4,153 posts by which the staff in post in his Department and the Property Services Agency contracted between 1 April 1979 and 1 April 1980 were employed.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe contraction between 1 April 1979 and 1 April 1980 was 4,172. The directorates in central DOE and the Property Services Agency (PSA) contributing to this reduction were
Central DOE—704 postsSenior Staff ManagementPersonnel Management and TrainingManpower and Management ServicesInformationAll regional offices (except South-West)StatisticsEconomics and statistics (B)Building Research EstablishmentNew TownsDevelopment Plans and Regional PolicyLand Use PolicyLand Economy DevelopmentPlanning Intelligence and MineralsHousing BHousing CHousing DHousing DevelopmentRent Assessment PanelsWater AAir Noise and WastesCentral Water Planning UnitAncient Monuments and Historic BuildingsGreater London Housing and PlanningLegalPlanning InspectorateDistrict AuditFinance, Local GovernmentFinance, Housing, Water and CentralCountryside CommissionPSA—3,468 postsAll directorates and regionsThe occupational groups contributing to the reductions were:Administration groupInformation Officer groupLibrarians groupData Processing groupProfessional and Technology groupSocial Science groupSecretarial groupScience groupCartographic and Recording ClassMessengersMuseum gradesPaperkeepersDepartmental gradesIndustrialsIt would cause disproportionate cost to list all the grades affected in each directorate and be of doubtful value. Many posts vacant on 1 April this year have since been filled while others, then occupied, have since become vacant. 669W Providing the information on a geographical basis would be equally difficult as the Department's numerous regionalised functions do not share common boundaries.
§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the staff establishment of his Department on 1 April 1979 and on 1 April of the current year; and what was the shortfall on these figures, if any, and the grades and geographical regions where the shortfall occurred.
§ Mr. Heseltine[pursuant to his reply, 23 May 1980, c. 431]: The information on staff establishment and shortfall is as follows:
Industrial and non industrial staff 1.4.79 Establishment 53,096 Staff in post 52,452 Shortfall 644 (1.2%) 1.4.80 Establishment 48,801 Staff in post 48,280.5 Shortfall 520.5(1.1%) Information on the grades and locations of shortfalls of staff establishment would be very costly to provide.