§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many redundancies have occurred or are likely to occur as a result of the introduction of contract cleaning and catering services at defence establishments in the Woolwich and Greenwich areas.
§ Mr. PattieTwo cleaning contracts in defence establishments in the Woolwich and Greenwich area began earlier this year. As a result, a total of 55 part-time cleaning staff were declared redundant, of whom 29 were subsequently engaged by the incoming contractors.
The possibility of introducing contract cleaning or catering at some other defence establishments in the area is being or will be examined, case by case. I cannot at this stage forecast the likely number of redundancies if all these examinations resulted in decisions to contract the work out. In the area at present, about 150 full-time and about the same number of part-time civilian staff' are employed on cleaning and catering work which might be contracted out, but even if all the establishments concerned did change to contract for these tasks, the number of staff actually declared redundant as a result would probably be less than these figures, because of 91W transfers to alternative Government employment, retirements, and other factors. Based on experience, many of those made redundant could expect to be offered jobs by the incoming contractors.