HC Deb 22 November 1984 vol 68 c283W
Mr. Spearing

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the approximate number of persons employed by the Greater London council and the Inner London education authority in the year 1984; and if he will tabulate the future distribution of such persons into the various bodies envisaged in his legislative proposals under the respective headings and named services (a) continued on an all-London elected or joint basis, (b) becoming the responsibility of London boroughs, (c) becoming the employees of another statutory body and (d) surplus to future requirements, together with the respective totals.

Mr. Waldegrave

According to figures supplied by the Greater London council for the June 1984 joint manpower watch, the council employs about 110,000 staff, of whom about 88,000 are allocated to the ILEA. My right hon. Friend hopes to publish shortly a paper about the staffing aspects of our proposals, which will expand on what paragraph 4.3 of the White Paper (Cmnd. 9063) said about staff transfers. But decisions on future staffing will, in general, be a matter for the successor bodies.

Mr. Spearing

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what will be the expected expenditure of the Greater London council, including the Inner London education authority, for its principal purposes for the financial year 1984–85 under the headings related to his legislative proposals for London local government services, namely (a) continuing on an all-London elected or joint basis, (b) becoming the responsibility of London boroughs, (c) becoming the responsibility of another statutory body and (d) to be discontinued, together with the respective totals for each category.

Mr. Waldegrave

Following is the available information about the GLC and ILEA 1984–85 budgeted net current expenditure:

£ million
(a) (i) on services continuing on an all-London elected or joint basis *127
(ii) ILEA 900
(b) on a services becoming the responsibility of London boroughs and on services to be discontinued †380–400
(c) on services becoming the responsibility of another statutory body ‡203–223
* Fire and civil defence joint board.
† It will be for the boroughs to decide on the extent of continued spending on discretionary services.
‡ Passenger transport revenue support, land drainage and flood protection, expenditure on some roads becoming the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Tranpsort and some expenditure on Historic Buildings and the Arts. Estimates of these (apart from the first two) are not available from budget returns and an approximate range has therefore been quoted.