§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will publish in the Official Report a resumé of the facts, figures and details as contained in the letter sent to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West by the Minister of State, 21 May 1981 (P. 231319/3(S)) on Mr. N. Patel, particularly the details in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this communication.
§ Mr. RaisonThe information is as follows.
The number of staff employed in the immigration and nationality department of the Home Office, excluding staff 446W in the immigration service, of whom there are at present some 1,670, was 1,439 on 1 January 1976; 1,433 on 1 April 1979; 1,421 on 1 April 1980; and 1,385 on 21 May 1981.
In each of the last five years, the staff have dealt with over a million items of correspondence—applications, written inquiries etc.—as well as personal and telephone inquiries. All the staff are civil servants and are employed on Civil Service pay and conditions in grades ranging from under-secretary (1) to clerical assistant (386).
In the current pay dispute, 248 members of the immigration and nationality department took part in the one-day strike on 9 March—this represents 18 per cent. of the work force—compared with the national figure of just over 50 per cent. of non-industrial civil servants who took industrial action on that day.