§ Mr. Craigenasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement regarding the future of the Glasgow redundancy payments office, indicating what proportion of the work on redundancy, insolvency and maternity payments done in Scotland is undertaken by the Glasgow office, the number of inquiries made at the public counter in 1983 and what efforts have been made to obtain more suitable alternative accommodation in Glasgow.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe Department is planning to close the Glasgow redundancy payments officer by the end of March 1985. The decision was taken following a review of the staffing needs and effective organisation of redundancy payments work. Increased efficiency together with a steady decline in work volumes means that Scotland can now be served by a single office in one location. With the lease on the Glasgow office due to expire at the end of March 1985, the decision was made to centralise all Scotland's redundancy payments work on the Edinburgh redundancy payments office, primarily because the same building also houses essential support services and the Department's senior line management responsible for redundancy work.
In the year ended 30 September 1984, the Glasgow office handled 59 per cent. of Scotland's redundancy work, 69 per cent. of insolvency work and 47 per cent. of maternity work. It also dealt with some 3,050 personal callers. Although Glasgow deals with more personal inquiries than Edinburgh, the overwhelming majority of RPO work is conducted by post or telephone.