§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Prime Minister, further to the reply to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North, of 29 October 1981, Official Report, column 396, how many extra or fewer persons are employed in each Government Department (a) since May 1979 and (b) during the last year for which figures are available.
§ The Prime MinisterFigures are not held centrally for May 1979. The following table shows the staff in post at 1 April 1979, 1 October 1980 and 1981 in each main Department or groups of departments and the changes(a) since 1 April 1979 and (b) during the 12 months ended 1 October 1981.
65W
Staff in Posts Full-time Equivalents* Changes Department 1 April 1979 1 October 1980 1 October 1981 1 April 1979 to 1 October 1981 October 1980 to1 October 1981 +/- +/- Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 14,474 13,976 13,175 -1,299 -801 Chancellor of the Exchequer's Departments† 126,869 115,938 111,769 -15,100 -4,169 Defence 247,660 235,226 224,729 -22,931 -10,497 Education and Science‡ 3,749 3,707 3,601 -148 -106 Employment Group 53,605 50,912 57,427 +3,822 +6,515 Energy 1,267 1,222 1,155 -112 -67 Environment 56,039 49,360 44,856 -11,183 -4,504 Foreign and Commonwealth 12,078 11,605 11,308 -770 -297 Home Office 33,490 34,924 34,817 +1,327 -107 Industry 9,514 9,120 8,514 -1,000 -606 Lord Chancellor's Departments 16,518 16,370 16,176 -342 -194 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster's Departments 13,014 12,352 11,468 -1,546 -884 Scottish Office 11,119 10,911 10,621 -498 -290 Social Services 100,929 100,576 99,832 -1,097 -744 Trade 9,621 9,458 9,103 -518 -355 Transport 13,908 13,291 13,318 -590 +27 Welsh Office 2,607 2,388 2,280 -327 -108 Other Departments 5,814 5,739 5,686 -128 -53 Totals (rounded) 732,300 697,100 679,800 -52,500 -17,300 Notes: * Part-time staff are counted as half units. † Excludes Paymaster General's Office and Treasury Solicitor. These staff are included under 'Other Departments' ‡ Includes the former Office of Arts and Libraries.