§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of civil servants now working in his Department on (a) duties associated with the abolition of the Greater London council and metropolitan county councils and (b) rates limitation, listing in each case the numbers and ranks of offices and the estimated cost per year of each group.
§ Mr. Waldegrave[pursuant to his reply, 20 November 1984 c. 153]: The number of staff working on abolition of the GLC/MCCs in my Department, including those administrating the controls in sections 7 to 9 of the Local Government (Interim Provisions) Act 1984, is as follows:
Grade Estimated full-time equivalents Grade 2 0.2 Grade 3 2.0 Grade 4 0.5 Grade 5 7.3 Grade 6 1.2 Senior Legal Assistant 2.5 Principal 15.0 Principal Engineer 0.8 Principal Planning Officer 0.4 Principal Research Officer 0.9 Statistician 0.5 Economic Adviser 2.0 PPTO Estates Officer 0.3 Senior Executive Officer 3.1 Senior Planning Officer 0.3 Senior Research Officer 0.9 Research Officer 0.1 Higher Executive Officer 13.5 Executive Officer 8.9 Clerical Officer/Assistant 12.4 Senior Personal Secretary 2.0 Personal Secretary 6.5 Typist 2.0 Total 83.3 The cost, including accommodation, of employing these staff for a whole year would be approximately £1.9 million (1984 prices).
In relation to rate limitation, the position has not changed significantly from that given in the answer to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West on 26 July, at column 810–12. Arrangements have now been made for responsibility for the work that will be involved in the rate limitation procedures covering the 18 selected authorities for 1985–86 to be distributed among officials who will also be responsible for case work arising from the rate support grant. The number of officials playing some part in these procedures has therefore increased, but the commitment of staff resources overall remains unchanged. The cost of this level of input, including accommodation, on an annual basis would be approximately £0–27 million (1984 prices).