§ Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are being taken to improve control of the running costs of Government Departments;
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Gross Running Costs—1983–84 Forecast Outturn Wages and Salaries Personal Overheads Accommodation Costs Office Services Other Services Total Running Costs £ million Department £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs Ministry of Defence (including Armed Forces) 6043.7 69.6 597.0 6.9 1,655.6 19.1 218.6 2.5 165.1 1.9 3,680.1 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 197.0 54.3 27.9 7.7 84.8 23.4 42.6 11.7 10.4 1.9 362.7 Overseas Development Administration 24.4 57.3 2.1 5.0 7.5 17.5 3.7 8.7 4.9 11.5 42.6 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 138.8 66.6 13.8 6.5 41.1 19.7 12.6 6.0 2.1 1.0 208.4 Department of Trade and Industry 159.9 60.7 7.9 3.0 54.0 20.5 33.6 12.7 8.2 3.1 236.6 Department of Energy 16.2 52.3 1.3 4.2 6.0 19.3 5.9 19.1 1.6 5.1 31.0 Department of Employment 246.9 72.1 8.5 2.5 55.9 16.3 25.6 7.5 7.5 1.7 342.7 Manpower Services Commission 216.5 64.7 11.0 3.3 60.2 18.0 40.0 11.9 6.9 2.1 334.6 Department of Transport 141.1 54.0 8.8 3.4 33.0 12.6 29.0 11.1 49.5 18.9 261.4 Department of the Environment 97.1 60.1 5.2 3.2 34.9 21.6 16.9 10.5 7.4 4.6 161.4 Property Services Agency (excluding Crown Suppliers) 320.7 66.7 13.5 2.8 35.7 7.4 17.3 3.6 93.9 19.5 481.1 Home Office 517.2 78.5 26.5 4.0 68.5 10.4 23.9 3.6 22.3 3.4 658.5 Lord Chancellor's Department 114.2 63.9 6.8 3.8 39.2 21.9 15.5 8.6 3.2 1.8 178.9 Department of Education and Science 33.8 64.9 2.9 5.6 10.3 19.7 4.5 8.6 0.6 1.2 52.2 Department of Health and Social Security 826.4 58.2 25.2 1.8 142.6 10.0 115.1 8.1 311.8 21.9 1,421.1 Her Majesty's Treasury (including CISCO) 46.2 67.6 2.0 2.9 9.6 14.1 5.4 7.9 5.2 7.6 68.3 Customs and Excise 284.2 75.6 18.0 4.8 45.7 12.1 22.3 5.9 5.8 1.5 375.9 Inland Revenue 672.9 74.6 19.4 2.1 128.9 14.3 63.9 7.1 17.1 1.9 902.2 Department of National Savings 61.7 41.1 1.2 0.8 10.7 7.1 22.4 14.9 54.4 36.2 150.4 Cabinet Office 23.9 48.8 2.6 5.4 11.8 24.1 7.3 14.9 3.4 6.8 49.0 Paymaster General's Office 7.0 56.3 0.1 0.3 1.2 9.6 2.1 17.3 2.0 15.9 12.4 Scottish Office 120.6 72.9 6.4 3.9 24.6 14.9 9.4 5.7 4.4 2.6 165.4 Welsh Office 24.3 58.4 1.5 3.6 5.7 13.8 3.2 7.6 6.9 16.6 41.6 Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments 328.6 77.9 15.9 3.8 35.1 8.3 18.5 4.4 23.6 5.6 421.8 and what are the latest figures available, broken down by Departments, wages and salaries, personnel overheads, accommodation costs, office services and other services.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe table shows how running costs have increased since the Government took office:
Percentage increase 1979–80 to 1980–81 1980–81 to 1981–82 1981–82 to 1982–83 1982–83 to 1983–84 Running costs 19.2 11.5 *9.4 *6.3 †17.6 †16.9 Inflation‡ 18.7 9.9 6.8 4.7 * Figures for 1982–83 for the Ministry of Defence are distorted by the Falklands conflict. † Excluding Ministry of Defence. ‡ GDP deflator. Comparison between 1982–83 and 1983–84 is complicated by factors outside the Department's control; especially changes in the basis of accommodation costs and an increased notional allowance for pensions. Correcting for these factors reduces the figure of 6.9 per cent, to about 5.5 percent. Ministers are continuing to take a personal interest in controlling the costs of their Departments and continuing savings of £60 million per annum have been identified from a wide variety of measures including up to £22 million per annum from a review of staffing allowances in the unemployment benefit service, £12 million per annum from contracting out cleaning and catering in the Ministry of Defence, and £4 million per annum from a new method for collecting and delivering mail in the Department of Health and Social Security.
The following table shows forecast outturn for 1983–84 for each Department. The figures for the Ministry of Defence cover military and civilian running costs which cannot be separated with precision.
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Wages and Salaries Personal Overheads Accommodation Costs Office Services Other Services Total Running Costs £ million Department £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs £ million Percentage of total running costs Total Main Departments 10,663.3 68.1 825.5 5.3 2,602.6 16.6 759.3 4.8 816.5 5.2 15,667.5 Total Other Departments 260.1 68.0 17.0 4.4 56.2 14.7 26.6 7.0 22.8 6.0 382.4 Total All Departments 10,923.4 68.1 842.5 5.2 2,658.8 16.6 785.9 4.9 839.3 5.2 16,049.9 NB Calculations are based on actual not rounded figures. Notes:
Wages and Salaries=wages, salaries, overtime payments, employers' National Insurance contributions and notional cost of accruing liability for pensions of serving staff;
Personnel overheads= travel, subsistence, removals, entertainment, catering support, protective clothing and training;
Accommodation costs=rates, heating, lighting, utilities, furniture and fittings, and notional market rental values for Crown and leased property;
Office services=postage, telecommunications, stationery, printing, binding, publication, library services, current expenditure on computers, office machinery and vehicles, and publicity and advertising;
Other costs=services provided by the Post Office, other agencies, and other departments.