§ Mr. Beithasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reductions in the number of civil servants, shown by grade, there were between June 1970 and March 1974, 100W between March 1974 and May 1979, and since May 1979, excluding reductions caused by the transfer of responsibility to other statutory bodies; and how many in each case were achieved through early retirement.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe following table shows the changes in numbers of non-industrial civil servants by grade and industrial civil servants in total for the periods 1 April 1970 to 1 April 1974, 1 April 1974 to 1 April 1979 and 1 April 1979 to 1 April 1982. Consistent data on grades are available only at 1 April each year. The figures have been adjusted to take account of the losses and gains due to transfer of responsibility to and from other statutory bodies. Reductions are indicated with a negative sign and reflect losses of all kinds offset by recruitment and movement between grades.
No figures for early retirements are available for the period up to 1 April 1974. For non-industrial home civil servants, voluntary retirements, redundancies, retirements on structural grounds and for limited efficiency amounted to 3,183 between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1979—including an estimated figure for 1974–75. The corresponding figure for the period 1 April 1979 to 1 April 1982 was 3,695—including a provisional figure for the first quarter of 1982. Early retirement figures by grade would be available only at disproportionate cost.
No statistics are collected centrally for the grades or the retirements of industrial staff.
Changes in staff in post* (April dates) 1970–74 1974–79 1979–82 General category and related grades† Assistant secretary level +153 +69 -111 Senior principal level +295 +151 -141 Principal level +1,264 +848 -611 Senior executive officer level +1,777 +1,381 -577 Higher executive officer level +5,573 +4,662 -2,072 AT/HEO(D) levels +394 +155 -216 Executive officer level +9,766 +10,934 -3,072 Clerical officer level +10,071 +18,237 -9,494 Clerical assistant level -1,834 +7,611 -7,848 Science category Higher grades +126 +27 -30 Principal scientific officer +391 +181 -174 Senior scientific officer +235 +5 -313 Higher scientific officer +33 -144 -322 Scientific officer -431 -14 -167 Assistant scientific officer -552 -604 -500 Professional and technology category Higher grades +1,767 -46 -366 PPTO +564 +196 -156 PTOI +872 +30 -383 PTOII +640 +285 -722 PTOIII +91 +195 -1,359 PTOIV -1,288 -1,128 -1,697 Secretarial category -1,088 +2,079 -1,941 Other non-industrial groups and grades -9,958 +8,844 -5,573 Industrial civil servants -27,662 -13,728 -28,068 Total Civil Service -8,801 +40,226 -65,913 Source: Civil Service Department and Her Majestys Treasury Staff In Post records. Notes: * Staff in post changes have been calculated on a full-time equivalent basis. † Includes the administration, economist, statistician, librarian and information officer groups. Inland Revenue grades and DHSS local officer grades are also included.